A large Science Fair Project!

I've been hoarding this task for a while. We started this task towards the end of 2006. After very little deliberation, we decided to make an over-sized volcano and over sized rock candy. Unfortunately a lot of the pictures and most of the video were destroyed in a series of hard drive crashes. It was still was a fun adventure and I still have enough documentation for a short proof. So, almost a year and half of crystal growth, 2 garbage cans, 3 major ant invasions, and 150 pounds of granulated sugar later, here it is.


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VOLCANO:

This part of the science fair project didn't get finished. The original plan was to make a volcano almost as tall as me. We experimented with a variety of classic childhood science projects, including soda/mentos and baking soda/vinegar. Some of the relatively small test turned out very promising. It faltered after I failed to find a cheap source of ingredients.

This is one of the more successful test volcanos. A five gallon jug with soda and mentos.






ROCK CANDY:


Preparation:

The first step was to make an oversaturated sugar solution. The rope needed to be soaked in the solution and then dried.










This process was repeatedly being done on a large scale, which led to several ant problems. Periodically the rock candy rope got removed from the containers so that the sugar solution could be replaced. Every single time we did that, and no matter what precautions we took, I managed to a attract a batalion of ants.

replacing the solution:






Unfortunately, much of the crystal growth occured on the containers themselves.








For over a year I managed to stave them off with a water mote around the containers.





Unfortunately, during this last winter, the ants finally won their war of attrition. Perhaps as an act of desperation (?), they had managed to cross my water moat even though most of them were dying in the process. That was the last straw and I immediately ended the project. In my haste to get rid of the ants, I took a picture of the ants, but not the end product.





a few of the dead ants