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Crystals Growth Lab

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Introduction

The crystal growth lab was done to display how crystals expand and grow through a changing environment. A solution is a homogeneous mixture of two or more components, one liquid, and one dissolved solid or solids. The amount of the solid introduced in the solution is known as the concentration. Solubility is the property of a concentration to dissolve into a solution, describing how well it dissolves in different temperatures and masses. Depending on the solubility a solution can be saturated, undersaturated, or supersaturated.
When a solution has the maximum amount of solid concentration based on the temperature, crystals will not form or dissolve into the solution being equally saturated. In an undersaturated solution, there …show more content…

We came to this conclusion with the understanding of our solubility curve. As a solution increases in temperature, the concentration of Copper Sulfate becomes more soluble and dissolves into the water. When taking away the heat source, the solution begins to cool becoming a supersaturated solution. The excess of dissolved solids creates an unstable solution, therefore, to regain a stable form, the solution will begin to form crystals growing from the seed crystal. Our solubility curve shows that with our .625 g/ml concentration, crystal growth will begin at 70° Celsius illustrated by Figure 1.
Methods

To begin this experiment, we started by drawing our own solubility curve based on the data given from the lab book illustrated in Table …show more content…

The solution became lighter in color as the seed crystalized, attaching to the bottom of the beaker. The seed crystal was gradient in color started as dark blue and turning lighter blue as it grew upward seen in Figure 2. Conclusion

In conclusion, from this experiment, we can say our hypothesis was not valid. We reject the hypothesis because in the recording of immediate results, our solution reached temperatures much less than 70° Celsius and yet no crystallization began. The solution showed no signs of crystal growth at the predicted temperature, however, did ultimately crystalize under a much lower temperature. Our results may have been impacted by the faulty thermometer and the insulation using the Styrofoam cup. As our cooling rate is slightly slower, our seed crystal formed more individual crystals, similar in size, rather than hundreds of very fine crystals. Our crystal grew from the seed crystal and also from the bottom of the beaker. The seed crystal allowed the Copper Sulfate ions to attach to it, growing outward as the solution stabilized. Crystals also formed on the bottom of the beaker as the concentration was not fully dissolved, settling to the bottom of the beaker. To improve the experiment, we could have used a better thermometer to record the appropriate data. We also should have heated the solution further to ensure the concentration of Copper Sulfate was

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