Re: Can you make sugar crystals using Kool-Aid instead of water

Hi Rachael - Here are a few thoughts you can investigate.

1. Make certain you weren't using diet Kool-Aid, which has aspartame as the sweetner, and not sugar.
2. How were you trying to grow crystals - by evaporation, or by placing your sugar/Kool Aid solutions at lower temperature (in the refrigerator, for instance?).
3. Set up a *positive control* for the situation in which you grew your crystals to make certain your conditions successfully support the growth of crystals. An example of a positive control might be the following:
   • Look at the Kool-Aid packet to see how much sugar you are adding to a given volume of water. Make your positive control the addition of that same amount of *sugar only* to the water. Treat your sugar-water identically to how you treat the Kool-Aid solution - if you place 1 cup of Kool-Aid solution in the freezer to grow crystals, do so with your sugar solution and see if that solution grows crystals, even if the Kool-Aid doesn't.

   If your positive control doesn't grow crystals, then you need to modify your conditions to obtain crystal growth. Some things to try might be:

   • Add a piece of string to the sugar water and Kool-Aid to act a nucleus for crystal formation.
   • Increase the concentration of sugar (or Kool-Aid) in the water to obtain a more highly saturated solution.

Lynn Bry, Moderator MadSci Network