Today we had a visit from the Mad Scientist (Mrs Adamson in disguise!). She demonstrated an experiment using sugar, boiling water and food colouring.
1. Put 1 cup of water in a saucepan
2. When boiling, add sugar in half cup lots and stir
3. Stop adding the sugar when it starts floating and will no longer dissolve
This is a saturated solution.
4. When it cools poor into a cup or glass
5. Suspend a skewer into the solution
How does it work?
When you mixed the water and sugar you made a SUPER SATURATED SOLUTION. This means that the water could only hold the sugar if both were very hot. As the water cools the sugar “comes out” of the solution back into sugar crystals on your skewer. The skewer (and sometimes the glass itself) act as a “seed” that the sugar crystals start to grow on. With some luck and patience you will have a tasty scientific treat! Enjoy!
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