Activity Overview
In this at home experiment, your family can grow their own stalactites and stalagmites. Children of all ages will be excited and intrigued as they watch this easy experiment unfold before their eyes over the course of 2-3 weeks. This experiment takes some patience but it is well worth the wait as these fascinating structures form right before your eyes.
Materials Needed
- Baking Soda
- Two Glass Jars
- A Spoon
- String
- water
- a saucer
- paperclips
How to Do It
- Fill two jars with very hot water
- Carefully, add baking soda a little at a time to each jar...as much as will dissolve in the water. Keep adding until the baking soda cannot be dissolved into the solution.
- Mix the solutions well.
- Cut a piece of string about 12-14 inches in length and attach a paper clip to each end
- Dip one end of the string and attached paperclip into each jar
- Place the saucer between the two jars to catch any potential drips that will occur.
- Place in a safe place for 2-3 weeks and watch what happens.
Scientific Explanation
The baking soda solution travels up through the string and drips into the saucer. Over time, the water that drips evaporates leaving behind the precipitate of the baking soda which forms stalactites and stalagmites.
