Joey Green's Mad Scientist

Rock Candy

What You Need

Clean, empty glass jar
Measuring cup
Boiling tap water
2 cups sugar
Spoon
Nail
String
Pencil

What to Do
Carefully fill the jar with 1/4 cup boiling hot tap water and slowly add the sugar, stirring well. Attach the nail to one end of the string and the pencil to the other end of the string so when you rest the pencil on the mouth of the jar, the nail hangs down into the thick sugar water without touching the bottom of the jar. Place the jar in a warm place and let it stand for a few days.

What Happens
The water evaporates and rocky sugar crystals form on the string.

Why It Works
As the water evaporates, the atoms in the sugar draw close together, forming cube-shaped crystals.

Bizarre Facts

The average American uses ninety pounds of sugar every year.
Sugar is used for mixing cement.
In cooking, a small amount of sugar will make yeast work faster. Too much sugar will stop yeast from working at all.
Sugar is slang for "money."
During World War II, GIs called a letter from one's sweetheart a "sugar report."
Addressing the Canadian Senate and House of Commons in 1941, Winston Churchill said, "We have not journeyed all this way across the centuries, across the oceans, across the mountains, across the prairies, because we are made of sugar candy."
Adding a tablespoon of sugar per quart of water in a vase prolongs the life of fresh flowers.
Sprinkling a dash of sugar on a tongue burned by hot soup, tea, or coffee soothes the burn.

Sugar Sugar
The hit song "Sugar Sugar," by the Archies, was the number three best-selling single in 1969, topping the Rolling Stones' "Honky Tonk Woman" and the Beatles' "Get Back."

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