Make Crystal Lollipops!

What You Do

• Pour ½ cup of water into the saucepan. Slowly sprinkle in 1 cup of sugar as you stir. Stop adding sugar when it stops dissolving.
• Place the saucepan on the stove and heat it on low heat for two to three minutes, or until the sugar starts dissolving again. Add the rest of the sugar and cook the solution until all of the sugar dissolves, stirring it occasionally.
• Turn up the heat to medium-high until the solution boils. Boil for one minute, until the solution is thick and clear.
• Turn off the heat and and carefully pour the solution into the cups. Stick one craft stick into each cup, and cover loosely with plastic wrap.
• Let your lollipops sit undisturbed overnight. The lollipops will fully crystallize and loosen from the sides of the cups. (If they aren't ready, let them sit for another 24 hours.)

Now they're ready to eat!

Why it Works

Heating the water forces more sugar to dissolve than ordinarily could, leading to supersaturation. When the mixtures cool, the water can no longer hang onto all that extra sugar. So, after you pour the lollipop solution in the cups, the water evaporates and sugar crystals remain.

Key Terms for Curious Kids

Supersaturation: The state of a chemical solution containing a greater amount of solute than normally possible, often as a result of heating then careful cooling.

Solution: A material made up of two or more substances mixed together uniformly, made by dissolving a solute in a solvent.

Evaporate: To change from a liquid to a gas over time.

Crystal: A solid containing an internal pattern of atoms, molecules, or ions that is regular, repeated, and geometrically arranged.

 Adapted from "Cool Chemistry Concoctions: 50 Formulas that Fizz, Foam, Splatter & Ooze." From chemistry codes to volcanoes and geysers, "Cool Chemistry Concoctions" is a fun and easy introduction to chemistry - for every kid! By Joe Rhatigan and Veronika Alice Gunter (Asheville, NC: Lark Books, 2007). www.larkbooks.com