[Rockhounds] More fun with NaCO3 crystals...

[Al Balmer]

On Wed, 2 Jul 2008 10:04:31 -0700 (PDT), Brett Allen Johnson
<bj9709 at yahoo.com> wrote:

>jbacko, so what you are saying is to make a super saturated solution of NaCO3+H2O and let evaporate to grow well formed crystals? Is this like growing epsom crystals? I will give it a go and report back after I get some success. Thanks, Brett
>ps. Do you have any other mixture/growing tips you would like to share with the Group?
>
The MIT Press has an inexpensive book named "Crystals and Crystal
Growing" by A. Holden and P. Morrison. I think it's still in print
(although my MIT days were a *long* time ago.) It's pretty basic. I
think it was one of the "help the high school teacher" series.

Found it. It is still in print, but the price has gone from the 5.95 I
remember to 21.95 :-)
http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=2&tid=5354
>
>jbacko worte:
>
>Sodium Carbonate (Washing Soda) readily makes lots of "stepped"  
>crystals from ordinary evaporation of saturated solutions.  They will 
>cover the bottom of the jar easily and can be broken out if desired. 
>However, they will not last in open air as they dessicate and turn again 
>into a white powder.  The same thing happens to copper sulfate, iron 
>sulfate and sodium bicarbonate.  Bicarbonate is harder to make into 
>large crystals.
>
>But it is relatively easy to make the crystals; they just will not be 
>stable. Borax will do the same thing, but more slowly.
>
>Potassium permanganate makes nice monoclinic crystals.
>
>The usual "stalactites" are made by growing silicates from sodium 
>silicate (Water Glass) and coloring them with seed crystals of various 
>kinds.
>Copper makes blue, nickel green, zinc creamy-white,  etc.
>
> john
>
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-- 
Al Balmer
Sun City, AZ