We are just loving Steve Spangler Science, a website full of science projects you can do at home. One of the coolest is to make your own geodes out of eggs. A real geode (top photo) is a rock whose inside is full of crystals. Crystals form from materials that line up in smooth, flat faces that make corners where they meet. The salt you sprinkle on food is crystal-shaped, as are the diamonds in jewelry, and if you drop a glass it will break into flat-sided pieces showing that glass is crystal too. Crystals inside geodes might be made of the purple stone amethyst, the pink stone rose quartz, or some other stone or mineral. Here, you can make your own crystal out of alum powder, a salt-like mineral that you can get at the store. You dissolve it in water, then let it stick to the inside of an eggshell. But the real rock ones are a lot harder to break.
Wee ones: How many colorful geodes can you count in the bottom photo?
Little kids: Each geode uses half an eggshell. If you have 5 eggs, how many geodes can you make (assuming you don’t break any)? Bonus: If you use those half-shells to make 2 green geodes and 6 blue ones, how many shells are left to make red geodes?
Big kids: To make these, you paint the inside of each shell with glue, then sprinkle it with alum powder. If it takes you 28 seconds to paint the glue and 13 seconds to sprinkle the alum, how fast can you prep 1 shell? Bonus: Once dry, you sink the eggshells into water mixed with food dye and more alum, then let them sit overnight. If you put them in at 7:00 pm and take them out 15 hours later, what time do they come out?
Answers:
Wee ones: We see 7, including the ones peeking from underneath.
Little kids: 10 geodes. Bonus: 2 shells left.
Big kids: 41 seconds. Bonus: 10:00 am.
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