Want to know how to make salt crystal feathers? The salt crystal feathers experiment teaches how to make salt crystals with science. We made our crystals on feathers, but you can use any object with a rough surface.
Of all the crystal experiments we’ve made, we absolutely love this one using salt to cover feathers with crystals to do the salt crystal feathers science experiment.
So pretty for any time of year!
Keep reading to find out how to make beautiful salt crystal feathers! There are a lot of fun ways to make salt crystals, but we love this feather version the best!
How to Make Salt Crystal Feathers Fast
Follow this guide and learn how to make these beautiful salt crystal feathers during the fall or any time of year!
They are so pretty, kids will want to make them over and over!
And the science lessons that kids can learn are very educational as well, and kids will love returning to this science lesson over and over.
Salt Crystal Science
The science of salt crystals is fascinating!
Salt crystals form due to the high concentration of salt in the water. When the water evaporates, the salt has to go somewhere.
When the feather is placed in the water, the salt molecules (NA and CL) bond together around the feather. Over time, the salt crystals get bigger.
Salt crystals mimic the formation of other crystal structures, which all use ionic bonding (meaning they are inflexible) to form repeating patterns and structures.
Some crystal structures are soft, like salt and lime, while others are quite hard, like mineral-based gemstones!
Because of their ionic bonding patterns, salt crystals always have a square and rectangular shape.
Even when crushed, salt still retains a square shape!
When you look at salt crystals under a microscope, you can see the tiny square pieces and sharp edges of the crystals.
Salt Crystal Experiment Hypothesis
If you want to do the salt crystal feathers project as a science fair project, you need a hypothesis. You could compare the amount of salt to see which amount produces the biggest crystals.
In that case, the hypothesis would be that the more salt, the bigger the crystals.
Another variable to test is time in the salt water. Does leaving the feathers in the water longer lead to bigger crystal formation?
Another possible hypothesis could be that a salt crystal will always have a square shape, no matter what it is grown on.
Think about your own questions that you can answer with this salt crystal science experiment!
How Long Does It Take for Salt Crystals to Grow?
If you’re wondering how long does it take to grow salt crystals, the timeframe can vary.
But if you follow this salt crystal recipe, you’ll get large crystals forming within an hour!
Because of the supersaturated solution, these salt crystals grow much faster than in some recipes, and you’ll start seeing big results in less than 2 hours!
The salt crystals will form on the feathers and the crystals will be completely formed within 24 hours.
Simple science projects for the win! Wondering how do you grow salt crystals?
Keep reading to get the supplies, science explanation, and steps!
Materials for Salt Crystals
This post contains affiliate links for your convenience.
Shop this list of ingredients to learn how to make salt crystal feathers with salt and water.
Colorful Goose Feathers 100pcs/pack/ (10pcs X10colors) (4–6 inch)Morton Salt Regular Salt, 26 Oz, Pack of 2Ball Pint Mason Jars, 16 oz., Set of 12Home-X Wooden Clothespins. Set of 50.
- Faux feathers
- Salt (1 regular size box of salt makes enough for 3 feathers)
- Mason jars
- Clothespins
Variations on How to Make Salt Crystal Feathers
What we love the most about this salt crystals experiment is how easy it is to make.
We’ve tried other kinds of crystals, but they just haven’t worked as well or held up as well as the salt version.
We’ve kind of gone a bit nuts here recently with salt crystals. We started with a salt crystallization experiment for Halloween, then we made salt crystal leaves. Also check out how to grow crystals with salt!
But when we saw these colorful feathers, we absolutely knew we had to cover them in salt crystals.
Epsom salt crystals look pretty, but they disintegrate quickly.
The borax crystals science project is fun, but they take a long time to grow!
We tried doing the rock candy experiment a few weeks ago, but we wanted more crystals in our life!
As a bonus, salt is super cheap, making learning how to make salt crystal feathers one of the least expensive crystal projects you can make!
More Crystal Science Experiments
Super Fun and Easy Crystal Science Fair Projects
How to Make Crystals without Borax
Make Breathtaking Epsom Salt Crystals Overnight!
Crystal Science Lesson Plan Bundle
How to Make Salt Crystal Feathers that Grow Fast
There are 2 ways to make big salt crystals.
First, the bigger the feathers, the bigger your salt crystals will be.
Also, the more supersaturated your solution, the bigger your salt crystals will be.
Follow the directions outlined below and you’ll learn how to make big salt crystals!
How to Make Big Salt Crystals Step by Step
Make salt crystals in less than one hour! How to make salt crystal feathers is easier than you think! Just 3 things make these feather crystals!
Materials
- Faux feathers
- Salt
- Mason jars
- Clothespins
Tools
- Pot
- Stove or hot plate
- Oven mitts
Instructions
- First, make your salt crystal water. We started by filling our mason jars with water.
- We then poured that water into a pot and added our Salt. Boil the water until the salt dissolves.
- Keep adding salt until the pot forms a layer of crystallized salt on top of the boiling water. It looks a bit like ice. When you have that much salt in the water, you know it will work. In fact, it works quite quickly.
- Pour the salty water into the mason jars. At this point, you'll have a layer of salt in the bottom of the pot. You can leave that out of your containers. They will crystallize just fine without it.
- Grab the end of your feather with a clothespin so you can suspend it over the center of the jar.
- Dip the feathers into the jars and set it in a sunny window. Your crystals will start to form in just a few minutes!
- Leave your feathers in the supersaturated solution for at least one hour. You will get the biggest crystals if you leave the feathers in your jar for 24 hours.
- Remove the crystals from the jar and let them dry on a paper towel.
- Examine the square shape of the crystals with a magnifying glass.
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