8 Salt vs Sugar Crystals

Salt Vs. Sugar

Ella McIlhinney

Problem-

• The problem I am trying to solve is whether Salt or Sugar makes better crystals.

Hypothesis-

• My hypothesis is that sugar will do better. I think this because there are candies made out of sugar, (like rock candy).

Procedure-

• 1. Collect my material, (2 types of sugar, 2 types of salt, Popsicle sticks, string, glass cups, and measuring utensils.)

  2. Boil 1 cup of water in a pot.

  3. Pour in 2 cups of salt or sugar until it dissolves.

  4. Pour 1 cup of the mixture into a tall glass.

  5. Tie string around a popsicle stick and let it dangle in the glass.

  6. Wait 24 hours.

1. Measure

Data-

Conclusion -

In conclusion, Salt won over sugar. My data showed that salt made more crystals compared to sugar. The average area for salt crystals in 101.75 mm and sugar was only 30.5 mm, a 71.25 mm difference. Out of the two types of salts, Epsom Salt and Iodized Table Salt, Iodized Salt did better with an average of 95 mm. Between the two sugars, Granulated Sugar and Light Brown Sugar, Granulated sugar did much better an average 25 mm. Lastly, out of all eight crystals, Iodized Table Salt number 2 did the best, with an area of 120 mm.

Abstract-

Rock Vs. Salt

Which material makes a better crystal?

Ella McIlhinney

For my 8th Grade Science Fair Project, I chose to experiment a popular question, does salt or sugar make a better crystal? I thought this would be a fun and interesting project because I could learn what material makes a better crystal, using just boiling water, and salt or sugar. I love eating the rock sugar candies and I wanted to explore how they are actually made. My hypothesis was that sugar would make larger crystals compared to salt because there are candies made from these materials using sugar, not salt.

The first step to creating my project was collecting my materials. I needed 2 types of salt, 2 types of sugar, glass cups, thick popsicle sticks, string, and measuring utensils. I chose to do Epsom Salt, Iodized Table Salt, Granulated Sugar, and Brown Sugar. With all the materials handy, I began my project by deciding what measurements I should use. I chose 1 cup of water to 2 cups of salt or sugar, because more salt or sugar than water will make better turnouts. After boiling 1 cup of water in a pot for about a minute, I poured in 2 cups of either salt or sugar and stirred until fully dissolved. Then, I let it cool down and measured out a cup and poured it into a tall glass. Finally, I cut and tied a piece of string around and popsicle stick and laid it on the top of the glass, The string was just short enough to dangle in the liquid, not touch the bottom of the glass. Once 24 was over, I took the crystals out of the glass and labeled them in cups. I measured the crystals in centimeters, finding the length and width, then finding the area. I lastly converted the area into millimeters because the pieces of salt or sugar are cubic. With this method, I did the experiment eight times, doing four mixtures two times each.

My data has shown that overall, salt made larger crystals than sugar. The average area for a salt crystal was 101.75 mm and sugar was 30.5 mm, a 71.25 mm difference. Out of the two types of salts, Iodized Table Salt did better with an average of 95 mm. Out of the sugars, Granulated sugar did better with 25 mm as its average. And finally, I found that out of all 8 crystals, Iodized Table Salt number 2 did the best, with an area of 120 mm.

By doing this project, I’ve learned about how materials react to being put into different forms. By liquidizing salts and sugars, I’ve learned that crystals can form. My hypothesis was incorrect, I truly believed that sugar would make larger and more crystals because of the candies, but salt has more qualities to grow. I think that overall, my experiment was accurate. To make my data even more true, I think that I could have made all the strings tied to the popsicle sticks the same length. I think that the Iodized Table Salt had a very long string, so it had more room to grow. But then looking at the brown sugar, it only grew towards the end of the stick. I also even tried two other salts that wouldn’t even melt with the cup of water in the boiling pot! Even with the differences in my 2016-2017 Science Fair Project, my data has shown the salt makes larger, and better crystals.