Make Your Own Rock Candy

"Teaching is the highest form of understanding." -Aristotle

Have fun with this simple science experiment or recipe to yumminess. Feel free to create your own twist of flavor and color with these rock candies. You will not only learn science, but als patience. Keep in mind that this recipe's measurement works for 4 12-ounce jars of one quart sized Mason jar.

Ingredients:

- 2 cups of water

- 6 cups of granulated sugar

- Optional: 2 to 3 drops of food coloring

- Optional: 1/2 to 1 teaspoon flavoring extract or oil

Directions:

1. Clean the glass jars with hot water.

2. Use a wooden skewer or string and have it hang about 1 inch from the bottom. Use clothespins that are balanced on top to hold the skewer or string in place.

3. Wet each wooden skewer with water nad roll it in granulated sugar. This would be considered the base layer. Set the skewer covered with sugar to dry.

4. To prepare the sugar syrup, place 2 cups of water in a medium sized pan and bring ti to a boil. Add one cup of sugar one at a time and make sure it is completely dissolved before adding the additional cup.

5. Continue to stir and boil the syrup until all the sugar has been added and completely dissolved. Remove the pan from heat.

6. Now it is time to add color. Add 2 to 3 drops of food coloring and stir it in to ensure a even color. When using an extract or a flavoring oil, only add 1/2 teaspoon.

7. Allow the sugar syrup to cool for 20 to 30 minutes.

8. Quickly rinse the prepped jars with hot water and pour the syrup into them. Lower each sugared skewer or string into the jar till it is about 1 inch from the bottom

9. Cover the top of the jar loosely with plastic wrap or a towel and place your jar in a cool place.

10. Crystals will start forming in 2 to 4 hours. If there is no change after 24 hours, try boiling the syrup again and add another cup of sugar. Then pour the syrup back into the jar and place the skewer.

11. Allow the rock candy to grow as big as you want it. There will be a layer of crystal that will form at the top. Once you think ur candy is ready,break the top later.

12. Transfer the rock candy to an empty glass and allow it to dry for an hour or two. Once it is dry feel free to enjoy it or wrap it in a plastic wrap for later.

Here is a video tutorial. There are some steps that are not shown or done differently but the overall idea is similar.

The Science Behind It:

The string/ skewer provides the surface where the crystals will form. Small crystals of sugar will start forming around the string as the water evaporated from it. This initial sugar coat is the seed crystals that are the starting points for larger crystals. The sugar crystals are able to grow because of two methods. By creating a supersaturated solution( by heating the saturated sugar solution-a solution that cannot allow any more sugar to dissolve at that particular temperature-) and allowing it to cool, the sugar will come out of the solution as a precipitate and form crystals.

Evaporation is another key process to growing sugar crystals. As time passes the water will slowly evaporate from the solution and the solution will become more saturated(in simpler terms thicker) ans sugar molecules will continue to collect onto the seed crystals(the initial coating of sugar) on the string. The rock candy will slowly grow. When it is about done the rock candy will be made up of about quadrillion(1,000,000,000,000,000) molecules attached to the skewer/string.