Thread: What's the best way to grow sugar crystals with common household items?

My guestimation is that I'd need to boil water, and then saturate it with as much sugar as possible. From there, I'd add a small object to function as the seed for the crystals to grow on. It'd need to be cooled gradually (left to sit out), and should be airtight. Am I missing anything?

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When you make rock candy, you can see the shape of sugar crystals on a giant scale. The key is giving them lots of time (about 7 days) to grow. As the water evaporates, sugar crystals form on the string or stick, and the shapes that they form reflect the shape of individual sugar crystals.
4 cups sugar
? 2 cups water
? a small saucepan
? a wooden spoon
? a candy thermometer
? a small, clean glass jar
? a measuring cup
? cotton string
? a weight to hang on the string (such as a screw or galvanized washer)
? waxed paper
? a pencil (to suspend the string in the jar)
What Do I Do? Did You Know?
Rock candy is one of the oldest and purest forms of candy. It was originally used by pharmacists to make medicines for many kinds of illnesses.
1. Heat the water in the saucepan over medium-high heat until it comes to a boil.
2. Completely dissolve the sugar in the boiling water, stirring continuously with the wooden spoon until the solution grows clear and it reaches a rolling boil.
3. Remove the solution from the heat, and then carefully pour it into the jar. Cover the jar with a small piece of waxed paper.
4. Tie the weight to one end of the string, and then tie the other end to the middle of the pencil. The string should be about two-thirds as long as the jar is deep. Dip the string into the sugar solution, remove it, lay it on a piece of waxed paper, straighten it out, and let it dry for a few days.
? Why does the string need to be soaked and then dried?
5. Gently suspend the prepared string in the solution and let sit at room temperature, undisturbed, for several days. You can check each day to see how much your crystals have grown. It?s tempting, but don?t touch the jar until the experiment is finished?it usually takes about seven days.
? What makes the crystals grow?
6. At the end of the week, the crystals on your string should be clearly defined, with sharp right angles and smooth faces of various sizes. In the field of crystallography, these are called monoclinic crystals. Their shape is determined by the way the individual sugar molecules fit together, which is similar to the way the shape of a pile of oranges is determined by the shape of the individual oranges and the way they stack together.
What Else Can I Try? .
? Try adding food coloring or flavoring to your sugar syrup before making the rock candy.

That should work. When you've boiled the water and disolved the sugar in it, tie a string around a toothpick and tie a nail or a washer or something like that around the other end of the string. Pour the sugar water into a glass and rest the toothpick across the rim. The nail (or whatever weight you're using) will hold the string in place. If you want to make it prettier, add some food coloring to the sugar water.

you`re guestimation is absolutely right. but instead of a small object as a seed ; your seed will be a sugar crystal itself ( don`t forget to saturate the solution to the maximum.).