In browsing the lovely interwebs for ideas for summertime fun, I stumbled on the ol’ grow a sugar crystal idea. You probably don’t remember, but we attempted this as a science project once. (Scroll to the bottom of the post for the crystal part.) What I failed to record here on the blog was that six weeks later, we still didn’t have crystals, just a two-inch layer of sugar at the top of our cups with sugar solution below that. I dumped the contents down the sink and chalked it up to not having a saturated-enough sugar solution. But I was still curious enough that I tried the experiment again on my own. Still no go. Four weeks and it looked pretty much the same, only this time, it was growing mold, too. In much the same way that making a good chocolate chip cookie eludes me, I figured this was one science project I’d never succeed at.
I still read this article, though, just in case there was something I’d missed. The only note-worthy piece of information was the 3 cups sugar to 1 cup water ratio (another vague detail in Mudpies to Magnets). But right below that were some troubleshooting links. Of course I clicked on those! And discovered….HUMIDITY is a project killer! That, and it’s likely that our solution cooled too quickly. Now I know for next time.
Meanwhile, I’m still really glad it wasn’t just me being a doofus and messing up an easy science project. Because I’m sure there will be plenty of other opportunities.
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