Materials:
- Borax powder
- Boiling water
- Glass jar
- Pipe cleaner
- String
- Pencil
- Food coloring (optional)
Instructions:
- Form your pipe cleaner into the shape of your choice. You can also use a natural object such as a pinecone or bird feather.
- Tie one end of the string to your shape and the other end to the middle of the pencil. The pencil will rest across the top of the jar, suspending your shape in the solution.
- Place the pencil across the top of the jar so your shape hangs freely inside the empty jar. Make sure it does not touch the sides or bottom. Adjust the string length if needed.
- With adult assistance, measure how much water is needed to fill your jar, then bring that water to a boil. Carefully pour the hot water into the jar.
- Add borax powder, one tablespoon at a time, stirring until it dissolves. You will add about 3 tablespoons of borax per 1 cup of water.
- Continue adding borax until a small amount remains undissolved at the bottom. This means you have created a saturated solution.
- Add a few drops of food coloring and stir well.
- Slowly lower your pipe cleaner shape into the solution and rest the pencil across the top of the jar. Make sure the shape remains fully suspended and does not touch the jar.
- Set the jar in a safe location, clean up your space, and then read Acts 9:1-22. As the solution cools, crystals will begin to form. For best results, wait at least 24 hours before removing your creation.
What’s Happening?
In this experiment, we are exploring solubility – how much of a substance (the solute, borax) can dissolve in a liquid (the solvent, water).
When the water molecules are heated, they begin to dance with energy, moving faster and spreading farther apart. This allows more borax to dissolve than would be possible in cooler water. As you stir in borax, it breaks apart into tiny particles that mix evenly throughout the hot water.
Eventually, you reach a point where no more borax will dissolve. This is called a saturated solution.
As the water cools, the molecules slow down and move closer together. Cooler water cannot hold as much dissolved borax, so the extra borax begins to come out of the solution. These particles attach to rough surfaces, like our pipe cleaner, and arrange themselves into beautiful patterns. This process is called crystallization.
Because the solution held more borax at a higher temperature than it can at a lower temperature, it becomes supersaturated as it cools down. This is what allows the crystals to grow.
What does Acts 9:1-22 have to do with this experiment?
In this passage, Saul has a powerful encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus. His life is completely transformed! The Bible is full of stories of ordinary people who meet God and are changed forever.
When we spend time with Jesus, we are filled with the Holy Spirit and the Spirit works to supersaturate us with the fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). Just like the crystals formed and became visible on the pipe cleaner, the work of the Spirit becomes visible in our lives and others begin to notice something different about us. One might even say that we shine like beautiful crystals full of God’s love!
Kelly Wasemiller is a former Adventist educator who now stays at home with her twins Thomas and Hazel. She and her husband, Stephen, live in Rapid City, South Dakota.
