Growing synthetic calcite crystals, the finale
Growing synthetic calcite crystals, the finale
So I wanted to grow some synthetic calcite crystals for use in optics and after 12 weeks of letting my crystal rig go, I did succeed in growing calcite crystals out of a homemade rig that practically anyone could build, made from Sodium carbonate (Washing soda or baking soda heated up in toaster oven) solution in one jar, A solution of calcium acetate (eggshells dissolved in vinegar) in another jar, and a flexible vinyl tube filled with cotton balls layered with sodium polyacrylate infused cotton from maxi-pads. I had a few calcite crystals almost the size of my fingernail just like I wanted to have however, they were cloudy perhaps because of contaminants as well as thin. but They did not dissolve in hot water proving them to be infact calcite and not calcium acetate or washing soda or some other weired crystal. overall, i think that the experiment was a very fun proof of concept even though the results were a bit sub par, and for said reason I don’t think i’ll be doing it again though unless I can think of a good way to improve my results. perhaps if I improved the rig in a few ways I could suceed however, I’ll let you guys learn from my mistakes. improvements I could make: 1) I theorize that if I made the solutions a bit more concentrated, The crystal growth may have been better as well as the experiment faster. 2) using a membrane cell instead of a water bridge so that the crystals may be able to grow larger before breaking off (Growing horizontally instead of growing vertically since calcite more dense than water, crystals may have broke off before growing large.). 3) replacing the crappy tampoon membrane with the silicone one mentioned in the research paper. i actually think my ghetto rigged membrane was largely responsible for the sub par quality of the crystals. overall, I would not reccomend trying it if you are in need of calcite crystals for a specefic purpose however, If you really think its a cool proof of concept the experiment is safe and anyone is welcome to try it.