Holiday STEAM: Easter Egg Crystal Experiment
At the holiday in which we color and experiment with a lot of eggs, comes this other fun experiment! See what happens when styrofoam eggs submerge in a Borax solution. Disclaimer: this experiment takes 24 hours to see results
Supplies
> Borax powder
> Egg shaped Styrofoam
> Mason jars (I used a variety of sizes)
> Wire (we used large paper clips)
> Food coloring
> Hot water
Instructions
Pour warm water into the mason jars, close to half full (when we push down the Styrofoam egg, the water will rise).
Add Borax solution – generally, the more you use, the better chances of the experiment working. Use at least 1/3 cup, we used ½ a cup for each jar.
Stir the solution and be sure the Borax dissolves.
Add in drops of food coloring. Do not worry, no matter how many drops you add it will only be a pastel color. Stir.
Use the wiring to piece through the styrofoam egg, top to bottom. Curl the bottom and top of wire. The bottom will want to be curled as to prevent the egg from sliding off, the top to be curled to possibly hook on the mason jar.
Here is the tricky part! Because Styrofoam floats, you will need to use something to place on top of the egg to keep it submerged in the solution. We used various glasses that were heavy enough to keep the egg down.
Let sit for 24 hours. Pull the egg out, and you should have a crystallized egg!
Some thoughts on this experiment: How does the egg crystalize? The Borax! When warm water is used, the heated water molecules move further apart. This allows the Borax crystals to dissolve. Crystals begin to form and build on one another as the water lets go of the excess and evaporate.
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Photographs and content by: Heather Kucenski