Carolina Chemonstrations®: Crystal Garden Kit

Grades 9–12. Students will thrill to see colorful stalagmite-like columns of silicate precipitates forming in test tubes during this demonstration. Students observe how transition metal salts dissolve in an aqueous solution of sodium silicate, write balanced equations for the metallic silicates formed, and see how the osmotic pressure of water helps to create and lengthen the silicate columns. This demonstration requires 15 min. Kit materials are sufficient to perform the demonstration 5 times.