That's a horrible picture but my cheap little digital camera isn't so good with close ups. Anyways, the rock has now grown crystals. Crystals also line the 'high vinegar' line of the bowl.
The rock is from a Popcorn Rock kit we bought at a museum. the packaging says the rock is argonite but has no information on the process of the crystal growth. Some Internet searches have turned up little.
Anyone familiar with this and have a good explanation or link I could use with the kids?
4 comments:
I was here thinking "wow, they put a rock in vinegar and it did THAT??" ...until i googled "popcorn rock" and discovered it's a special kind of rock LOL ....
There's some info on crystals here:
http://chemistry.about.com/od/growingcrystals/Growing_Crystals.htm
if there's anything useful in that..
and here's someone's photo journal of their own popcorn rock growing..(well, they sell it)
http://www.myrockhound.com/popcornrocks.html
Not sure if either of those are the sorts of things you're looking for...
K, that crystal link cut off.. it should end with /Growing_Crystals.htm
Here is a time-lapse YouTube video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BZQOPrMfb0
One of the comments says it is aragonite, a form of calcium carbonate.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aragonite
I would guess that the vinegar dissolved the calcium carbonate from the "rock" and then it precipitated in a crystal form.
Looks like fun.
Ruth in NC
http://travelingjews.blogspot.com/
Awesome! thanks for all the help! I wasn't getting much from my Googling (something I'm usually pretty good at) so I appreciate this.
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