Q&A for How to Make Salt Crystals

Yes, you can use sea salt. However, make sure you choose non-iodized sea salt for this project.

No, the salt should dissolve. If the salt is not dissolving, you may have added too much to the water.

Yes, they will, but the problem is that sooner or later there will be no material to form the crystal, so you will have to change the solution, water with dissolved salt in it, every two or three weeks, so that the crystal will keep moving. Also, when the crystal is big, you will have to change the solution more often, because a big crystal has a higher surface area than it had before, which means that it absorbs more salt.

If you are using a seed crystal, then something thin like fishing line or thread would be the best. If you are not using a seed crystal, consider something thicker, like baker's twine or yarn.

You can use tweezers or a toothpick to carefully pick or push the crystals out of the jar. If the jar has a wide enough mouth, and if you are very careful, you might also be able to use your fingers.

Basically, the vibrations can cause nuclei to form, which the salt will grow around instead of the string. Moving it doesn't destroy the growing process, but you will get multiple smaller crystals instead of a single one.

Yes, you can. Mixing two types of salt should have some interesting results.

The best salt to use for a beginner is copper sulfate. It is affordable, does not take too much time to grow to a medium size, and is also a bit safer and easier to manage.

Yes, however the color will be less concentrated and it may interfere with the crystal growth. Furthermore if you're looking for a natural nontoxic solution use the juice from various fruits and vegetables. (BlackBerries for blue, oranges for orange, cherries for red, etc.)

Basically, you're making an oversaturated solution so there is no such thing as adding too much salt. However, salt which doesn't dissolve will stay on the bottom of your jar and you should filter the solution if you want to avoid those salt leftovers consuming the dissolved salt you want to see forming your crystals.

No, because if you use a plastic jar, you might burn your fingers. The plastic may also leech chemicals into the water, which can interfere with the formation of crystals.

It depends on what salt you use. It can take a couple of hours or a couple of days.

By "panel" I believe you're referring to the face of the crystal. The crystal will form in the shape of the crystal lattice. The crystal lattice is the geometric arrangement formed by the individual molecules of the solute (salt) as they attach to one another. In a perfect salt crystal (table salt particularly), the lattice is in the shape of a cube. In an ideal environment, the crystal will naturally form perfectly flat faces which intersect at perfectly straight edges. In other words, a cube. There's no way to alter the shape of the crystal without some synthetic formulation by some device.

This doesn't really matter, as long as it isn't too big so the water will spread on the whole bottom.

You wouldn't want to add sugar to this recipe as it could affect the quality of your salt crystals, but you could make sugar crystals instead. Check out wikiHow's article on making edible sugar crystals to get started.

Yes, but the ratio of sugar to water is different compared to the ratio of salt to water. Either way, both solutions have to be super saturated.

You should, but you can use regular tap water if you don't have distilled water available.

The seed that the string is tied to will basically be the core of your crystal, so the crystal will grow around it. There's no way to remove it.

No. It will make the crystal less likely to grow because the lack of air.

However much salt you can dissolve. Keep mixing salt into the water until you can't dissolve anymore.

Yes, and no. It won't stick onto the chain, so it won't have a place to grow. But you can create a place for the crystals to grow if you dip the chain in some water and coat with a layer of salt.

No, you cannot use markers instead of food coloring. Markers have different properties and are harder to die liquids with. With food coloring, it is already a liquid, making it much easier to place and spread inside of another liquid.

The crystal won't be as strong. The nail polish seals the crystal so nothing can harm it, like water or humidity in the air.

If you are using a plastic jar, the jar would have chemicals that interfere with the salt crystals.

The snowflake crystal type in Method 3 variations explains this. Merely make a shape out of pipe cleaners, and a crystal might grow in the middle of the shape, creating interesting results.

It is a physical change. A chemical change would result in substances that are different from the ones you started with. Here, the salt has changed its shape.

You can use monoammonium phosphate. That's what most kits you buy in the kid's science section are made from. There is no "concentration," it's basically another over-saturated solution. Google "monoammonium phosphate crystals," there are a few how-tos at the top of the results.

The process is basically about slowly evaporating the solvent (water) so that it can't contain the solute (salt) anymore. Therefore, the solute won't be dissolved in it anymore, and will become solid again. The difference here is that it has something to stick to (the string) when it does become solid.

You can use tweezers, these will help you get a grip on the crystals.

It is much better to use natural food coloring from fruits. Marker isn't a great choice.