October is here, which means falling leaves, cooler temperatures and of course, pumpkins. Try out this fun experiment to grow your very own crystals in the shape of pumpkins while learning about saturated solutions. For the younger crowd, this activity pairs well with the book “5 Little Pumpkins”.
Items Needed:
Steps:
Wow! The pumpkin chenille developed crystals!
What you’ve created by mixing the water with Borax is called a saturated solution. A hot liquid will hold more Borax than a cold one. As the solution cools, the molecules in the water move closer to one another and the particles settle out. Settling particles form the crystals. Depending on how long it takes the solutions to cool will determine how the crystals look at the end.
You can expand on this experiment in a few ways. Try covering one of the solution mixtures with aluminum foil to monitor how long it takes the crystals to form. Do they look different than the pumpkins in the uncovered solution? Alternatively, Place one jar of pumpkins in the solution in the fridge, and keep the other at room temperature. What happens after 24 hours? How do the crystals look different?