Purple & Blue Crystal Recipes

This is a list of colored crystal projects. These crystal colors are natural, not caused by food coloring or another additive. You can grow natural crystals in pretty much any color of the rainbow!

1. Purple - Chromium Alum Crystals

Ra'ike, Wikipedia Commons

These crystals are deep violet if you use pure chromium alum. If you mix the chromium alum with regular alum you can get lavender crystals. This is a stunning type of crystal that is easy to grow.

Ben Mills

HOW TO MAKE IT???

Learn how to grow deep purple or lavender cubic crystals of potassium chromium sulphate dodecahydrate. In addition, you can grow clear crystals around the purple crystals, yielding a sparkling crystal with a purple core. The same technique can be applied to other crystal systems.

Difficulty: Average

Time Required: days to months depending on desired size

Periodic Table of the Elements

Introduction to the Periodic Table
People have known about elements like carbon and gold since ancient time. The elements couldn't be changed using any chemical method. Each element has a unique number of protons. If you examine samples of iron and silver, you can't tell how many protons the atoms have. However, you can tell the elements apart because they have different properties. You might notice there are more similarities between iron and silver than between iron and oxygen. Could there be a way to organize the elements so you could tell at a glance which ones had similar properties?

The chemistry of SNOWFLAKE

Have you ever looked at a snowflake and wondered how it formed or why it looks different from other snow you might have seen? Snowflakes are a particular form of water ice. Snowflakes form in clouds, which consist of water vapor. When the temperature is 32° F (0° C) or colder, water changes from its liquid form into ice. Several factors affect snowflake formation. Temperature, air currents, and humidity all influence shape and size. Dirt and dust particles can get mixed up in the water and affect crystal weight and durability. The dirt particles make the snowflake heavier, and can cause cracks and breaks in the crystal and make it easier to melt. Snowflake formation is a dynamic process. A snowflake may encounter many different environmental conditions, sometimes melting it, sometimes causing growth, always changing its structure.