1. Crystal Candies

2. Rock Candy Rock candy is just sugar crystals! It’s a very old kind of candy.

3. Rock Candy Around the World Rock candy! Mishri! Kalkandu! Used to make sugar skulls for Dia De Los Muertos Used as “money” in small games & bets

4. What is sugar? 1 sucrose = 1 fructose + 1 glucose Sucrose is the scientific name of table sugar. C 12 H 22 O 11

5. What is a crystal? Under a microscope, you can see that sugar crystals aren’t cubes, exactly.

6. Saturation vs. Supersaturation The sugar solution is saturated when the water has dissolved all the sugar it is able to hold. At higher temperatures, water can dissolve more sugar. This is because of the increased molecular motion at high temperatures. When the solution cools, it becomes supersaturated. There is more sugar than can stay dissolved!

7. Crystallizing out Now the sugar is looking for a place to go – it needs to get out of solution! It would like to crystallize out, but it needs something to get it started … A dust particle or rough spot might accumulate enough molecules to start a seed crystal, which can grow bigger & bigger.

8. How to make rock candy 1.Heat sugar to a boil. 2.Dissolve twice as much sugar into the water. Stir until the solution is clear and at a rolling boil. This is a saturated solution, but when it cools, it will be supersaturated.

9. How to make rock candy, cont’d 3.Pour solution into clear, clean jar. 4.If you like, add a drop or two of food coloring. 5.Take a string, tie one end to a paperclip and the other end to a dowel or pencil. Put the string in the solution. 6. Cover the jar, set it to the side, and DON’T MOVE IT for about a week!

10. How many molecules? Your finished rock candy will be made up of about a quadrillion (1,000,000,000,000,000) molecules attached to the string!