You will need:
- 2 glass jars
- Paper clips
- Cotton or woollen yarn
- Spoon
- 1 plate
- Hot water
- Baking soda
Stalactites and Stalagmites are crystal-like formations that take thousands of years to form in caves. What if you could make them at home? Of course, it isn’t going to be as large as the real ones, but they take only a week and not centuries to form.
INSTRUCTIONS
- Take a long piece of woollen or cotton yarn and fold it a few times to give it thickness.
- Place a plate and 2 glass jars on either side of the plate.
- Wet the yarn string.
- Attach the string with paper clips on each jar, creating a little dip as it goes across the plate.
- Prepare a saturated solution of baking soda, by heating water and mixing baking soda into it till the baking soda no longer dissolves into the water.
- Pour the solution into both the jars, with the yarn string on both ends, dipped into the solution.
- Keep an eye on the solution; in a few days small crystals will start to appear on the yarn.
RESULT
In a week’s time, stalactites will grow down towards the saucer. This is because the water and baking soda solution is absorbed by the yarn and drips onto the plate, leaving behind only baking soda crystals on the yarn.
