Make Your Own Rock Candy
Materials:
- 1 pan
- Water
- Sugar
- Spoon
- Clean thread
- 4 buttons
- 4 rulers
- 4 glass jars
- 4 colors of food coloring (blue, red, green, and yellow/purple do well)
- Scissors
Instructions:
1. Put some water in a saucepan or small pot. You can measure out the water by how much each of the jars can hold.
2. Heat the water over the stove, allow it to simmer. Once it simmers, begin adding sugar by the spoonful. Dissolve each spoonful of sugar into the water before adding another one. Once you see that the sugar is having a hard time dissolving (some bits or left at the bottom,) turn off the heat and let the mixture cool.
3. While allowing it to cool, prepare your thread. Cut out four pieces of thread. Tie one end of each piece around each ruler (one ruler to one piece of thread.)
4. On the other end of each of the pieces of thread, tie the buttons.
5. Place these pieces of thread in the jars. The button should not touch the bottom of the jar, and the ruler should rest on the rim of the jar. The ruler actually prevents the button from touching the bottom and it keeps the string suspended at the center of the jar.
6. Once all the threads have been prepared, pour the sugar water into each jar.
7. Choose one color per jar of sugar water. Put in several drops of food coloring into each jar till you get the desired coloring. Remember to stir in the food coloring well.
8. Put the strings into the jar. Remember that the ruler should rest on the rim and the string should more or less be centered, with the button holding it down.
9. Place the jars in a sunny place and wait several days.
10. At the end of a few days, the liquid in your jar should evaporate. What will be left behind are the colored sugar crystals that are attached to the string.
11. Lay the string out in the sun on a piece of paper to completely dry the colored crystals. Remove the crystals by shaking them off or by collecting them with your fingers. You have just made your own rock candy!
When the liquid evaporates, it leaves the solid sugar behind because this particular solid cannot turn into gas by simple evaporation. By knowing the physical properties of matter, you were able to make yourself a tasty treat!
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