Time Passes

Step 6: Time Passes

The tree after 12 hours.

You can keep your crystal shape growing indefinately, by adding more water/salt solution to the bowel.

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kittivalentine says: Nov 23, 2011. 7:40 AM

Two questions:
1) You said the ammonia was optional, depending on humidity, etc. I live in one of the rainiest cities in America so it's always very humid here, so would that make the ammonia more or less important?
2) If I wanted to make little kits as gifts, where I pre-mixed the solution and kept it in a bottle, do you know if it would keep and for how long?
Thanks! BTW, great instructable!

panakanic in reply to kittivalentineOct 3, 2012. 10:13 AM

My Mom used to do this for us, when we lived in Seattle, back in the 1960's, and it worked fine-she always used ammonia.. We used charcoal briquets for the base then, but any thing that is somewhat porous will work for the crystals to grow on. Using briquets gave kind of a fairy-land look to the creation. Mom would put the briquets and solution in a pie plate, and let my sis and I put drops of liquid food color on the briqs to make the different colored areas, Magic to little kid! Just make sure they don't try to play in it!

sylbl12 says: Oct 1, 2012. 12:51 AM

I remember buying kits for my children, am looking for activities for my grandchildren over the holidays, this is definitely a good idea, thanks for sharing.

tiag79 says: Jul 18, 2011. 3:02 PM

This looks interesting but I'm not too sure I want to try this just yet. Maybe when my 4 year old it 5 or 6. She'll probably think it's candy from the coloring, lol. But I must admit that I think this would be a nice science experiment for my 13 yr old to give a try.

D00M99 says: Jan 5, 2011. 5:51 PM

I see in the video that the crystals fall off sometimes. Any way to prevent?

Also, any scientific reason as to why this happens? Very interested in the process.

mik3 (author) in reply to D00M99Jan 11, 2011. 9:49 AM

The crystals are pretty fragile, so when get too big they break & fall off by themselves. Growing them in a place where they don't get jarred too much can help.