Science blog: Making aspirin crystals.

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Science blog: Making aspirin crystals.


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Hello, dear community of steemit, today I want to bring you something different, it is a small experiment so that it consists in returning to its original form the well-known "aspirin". This experiment is perfect for children to do it because of its simple and few necessary elements.

Let's begin...

Aspirin is the friendly name of acetylsalicylic acid. As its name scientist confesses, this acid has been the son of acetate and willow, with the bark of the latter from which it obtains its raw material. Among others that have made Mr. Bayer millionaire, has the property of forming beautiful crystals, although probably all crystals are beautiful to human eyes because they represent order, the spontaneous emergence of self-organized balance.

In the case of aspirin, its appearance is crystalline by nature and tends to return to such configuration as soon as it has the opportunity. And what we will do in this experiment will be to fabricate that opportunity, first separating the acetylsalicylic acid from the filth that they put in it so that it stays in the form of a pill and we can swallow it at a rate of more than one hundred million per day in the whole world, which adds about 40,000 tons per year.

The procedure is simple but the process is long. In that, as in the rest of this article, you will see parallels with the gestation of a human being. Fortunately, this process does not require much attention from us.

Instructions:

  • Fill a transparent bottle or bottle with cold water.
  • Add several aspirins to the water (10, 50, 100 or as many as you like) without stirring.
  • Cover the container.
  • Do not move it!
  • Keep it away from light.
  • If possible, do not swallow it.

The process will begin immediately, although the first signs will be visible in a few days or weeks. In a few months, there will be crystals large enough to terminate the experiment, although it can take longer than a year.

The result will be something like this:


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Well, that's if you see it with a microscope. From a distance it will be like this:

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The crystals can acquire very different shapes according to the experimental conditions.

There are several ways to improve this experiment:

  • Aspirins can be ground beforehand,
  • They can be dissolved in distilled water or in a mixture of water and alcohol,
  • The solution can be heated in a water bath to facilitate initial disintegration and
  • The container can be placed on ice to favor crystallization ...

But none of this is essential for this scientific essay, part of whose grace it is to forget to have started it and simply discover one day that complex forms have been formed where once there was only a strange dust. (I warned you that it looked like human pregnancy.)

Additional details.

When an element approaches its melting point, the atoms are randomly ordered because they move a lot, like anybody that is about to be merged. As the crystals are high order structures, we need the process to be carried out at low temperatures. The cold medium of this experiment is fundamental for the atoms to end up in the most natural disposition possible, so it is convenient to keep the experiment away from the heat.

Although it hurts your curiosity, it is best to keep the experiment away from the influence of any light source. This is because the crystallization takes place as the atoms lose energy and can stabilize in the proper configuration. And the light is energy. So no light.

Do not discard the possibility of creating a dark case for the bottle or, better yet, some kind of bell that allows you to spy on the crystallization process without compromising the stability of the container.

Type of crystallization.

The type of crystallization of this experiment is called "supersaturated". It occurs when the amount of solute (aspirin) is greater than that which can dissolve the solvent (water). Therefore, if fifteen days pass and you do not see any results, you should probably add more aspirin to the mixture. If several days after that you still do not see anything, chances are that you have gone blind.

Although crystals tend to acquire a perfect geometry according to a natural "habit", the imperfections and impurities of the medium can give them forms as varied as the dust of the air gives them to snowflakes, which are water crystals. And, since the container will not move again, the way each of the aspirins falls will determine the shapes the crystals will take. For this reason, it is possible to try to use a nucleus of crystallization, that is to say, some object around which the molecules are embraced, a "skeleton" that guides its development.

It can help the crystallization add a spoonful of sugar on the aspirins. However, this compromises both the simplicity of the experiment and the integrity of the resulting structure. The best option is to wait for some crystals to form and add aspirins, one at a time, every several days so that the new crystals form on more firm ones and the plant is higher. These moments can be used to include a minimum of dye and the structure acquires a subtle degradation, although this also goes against the purity of the crystallogenesis.

A crystal structure is in many ways like a tree (and vice versa). If the experiment is continued for too long (for example, a year), the outermost crystals (the "leaves") will begin to touch each other and with the branches and the trunk, which will not prevent growth but the correct crystallization, making the whole group grow more amorphous, less geometric.

If you want to preserve the fractal structure, it is best to remove the lid at the time it is considered appropriate and let the water evaporate slowly and naturally. This will even accelerate what remains of the process of crystallogenesis, which will end when there is no more water left. It is advisable, in any case, to protect the mouth of the container with a gauze or something that prevents the entry of dust, cats, fingers, etc.

In conclusion, this is a great experiment to do with children because it will allow them to keep a diary where they can write down and see the advances in the formation of their crystals.



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