Rock Candy in Minutes

About this activity

A 3D candy-workshop lab on fast-forward. Students heat water in a copper pot, pour sugar and stir until some stays on the bottom, weigh the leftover on a digital scale and work out the concentration of the saturated solution in grams per 100 mL. They repeat it at 40, 60 and 80 °C as a fair test, test whether stirring changes how much dissolves, explain the results with a particle view, then cool hot syrup so rock candy grows on a stick in a jar.