Winter Wonderland at the Montana Science Center

WRITTEN BY QUINCY BALIUS

Are you feeling stuck in the house because of snow? Montana can feel more like Antarctica at this time of year, but that doesn’t mean you should be trapped at home. If you’re able to dig your way out of the most recent snowfall, there are plenty of exciting science adventures to be had, and Montana Science Center will be hosting a full slate of programming for all ages during winter break.

Winter Wonderland at the Science Station

December 17-31, 2022, 10 a.m.-noon, for all ages. Come check out a new hands-on science activity every day.

Pokémon Party

December 19-22, 2022, 9 a.m.-3 p.m., for grades K-5. Preregistration required Discover the science behind these amazing creatures, design your own Pokémon with unique features, create a stop-motion movie about your creature and more. Please, no personal Pokémon cards.

Storybook Science

December 27-30, 2022, 9 a.m.-3 p.m., for grades K-5. Preregistration required From hair ladders to poison apples, fairy tales are full of magic. Could they ever happen in real life? Discover what’s fact, what’s fiction and how you can engineer it with exciting activities.

Holiday Sip and Science (Ages 21+)

December 15, 2022, 6:30-8:30 p.m. Preregistration required Spice up your ugly sweaters with embellishments like 3-D printed items, conductive thread and LED circuitry.

Noon Year’s Eve Party

December 31, 2022, Noon. For all ages. Enjoy a cup of hot chocolate, tackle some STEM activities and make a party hat to celebrate the “Ball Drop” at noon instead of midnight.

To register and for more information, call 406-522-9087 or visit www.montanaScienceCenter.org.

Grow Your Own Wintery Crystals

Materials: • Two pipe cleaners • Two pencils • Borax • Tablespoon measurement • Large bowl • Two identical jars or large drinking glasses • Pot for cooking • Plastic wrap • Ice cubes • Water

Set Up and Safety Warning: Assemble your materials and make sure you choose a space that can withstand a mess. Please be aware that Borax is a household cleaner that can harm people if they swallow or inhale it or if it makes contact with their eyes. Caution and adult supervision are highly recommended for this science activity.

Try This:

1. Fill your large bowl half-full of ice cubes and then add water until the bowl is three-quarters full. Set the bowl aside.

2. Twist a pipe cleaner around the center point of your pencils. Adjust the length of your pipe cleaners so that when you lay the pencil over a jar, the end of the pipe cleaner hangs down to almost the bottom of the jar. Make both pipe cleaners the same length.

3. Fill the cooking pot with enough water to fill both jars. Bring the water to a boil on the stove, then turn it off and let the water cool a bit.

4. Add 1 tablespoon of borax to the water and stir until it dissolves.

Continue to add 1 tablespoon at a time until no more can dissolve.

You will probably need about 3 tablespoons of Borax for each cup of water.

5. Fill each jar about three-quarters full of Borax solution.

6. Lay a pencil across the top of each jar so that the pipe cleaner hangs down into the solution.

7. Cover the jars with plastic wrap.

8. Set out one jar at room temperature. Place the second jar in the ice bowl that you prepared. Make sure the water level in the bowl reaches at least two-thirds the way up the jar, but is not so high that it goes into the jar.

9. Leave the jars alone for at least five hours. Add ice to the ice bowl when the ice melts.

10. Observe the jars every so often. What do you see? Are crystals forming? Do they look different in the different jars?

11. After five or more hours, remove the pencils and observe the pipe cleaner crystals!

What’s Happening:

• The process of growing crystals is a chemical reaction. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, a chemical reaction is, “a process in which one or more substances are converted to one or more different substances.” When chemists want to separate out these substances, they sometimes use a process called recrystallization. In recrystallization, the mixture of products can be dissolved in hot water and then cooled. During cooling, one product appears as crystals and the other product appears as part of the liquid.

• Crystals appear because of solubility, the largest amount of something that can be dissolved in something else. Hot water can dissolve more of a substance than cold water can. When the water cools, there is more Borax than the cold water can hold.

The Borax comes out of the mixture and forms crystals!

Go Further:

• Try creating crystals in different ways. What do you think would happen if you put another jar inside the fridge? What if you made crystals out of another substance, like salt or sugar? What if you tried growing crystals for longer periods of time? Keep exploring with your crystals as you enjoy the snow crystals falling outside!

Quincy Balius is the Education Coordinator at the Montana Science Center.