Growing Your Own Cool Crystals

Cut a piece of string and tie one end of the string to a paper clip. Tie the other end of the string to a pencil and place the pencil over the top of the glass jar. You want the string to be long enough that the paper clip barely touches the bottom of the glass jar. Once you have verified the length of string is correct, set the paper clip, pencil and string aside.

Put a cup of water in a pot and boil it. Carefully pour the water into the glass jar and add one teaspoon of salt at a time to the jar. Stir the salt until it dissolves. Once the salt has dissolved, put another teaspoon of salt into the jar and stir it. Keep adding salt and stirring it until you get to the point where the salt sinks to the bottom of the jar before dissolving in the water. This is known as supersaturation. Do not add any more salt once the water is supersaturated.

Lower the paper clip into the glass jar and allow the pencil to rest on the rim of the jar. Place a paper towel over the jar so no debris or dust enters. Put the jar on a shelf where it will not be bothered for at least 48 hours. Once the 12-hour mark has passed, you will start to see crystals forming on the bottom of the glass jar, on the paper clip and on the string. The crystals will grow larger once 24 hours has passed. After 48 hours, the crystals will be either cubes of crystals or clusters.