Change Hand Warmers Into Ice Sculptures

Some common hand warmers contain a substance called sodium acetate. When a super saturated solution of sodium acetate crystallizes it releases heat. The crystallization process is very fast and produces crystals that look like ice.

You will need:

Several packs of sodium acetate hand warmers, a pan, a stove (adult supervision).

Now try this:

1. Carefully pour out the super saturated sodium acetate solution contained in hand warmers. (This solution is made by heating water to the boiling point and dissolving as much as possible of solid sodium acetate. Then allow the solution to cool to room temperature.)
    

2. As you pour the solution you will see it crystallize instantly. You can create different sculptures while it pours or you can set it in a dish and allow it to crystallize instantly into what looks like a block of ice.
    

3. You can add food coloring to the solution to make different colored crystals.
    

4. Heating the crystals back up (you may need to add a small amount of water) will recover the super saturated solution and then you can reform your crystals.
    

Explanation:

Sodium acetate is a solid compound that will dissolve in water. When water is heated more of the sodium acetate can be added and dissolved then if the water were left at room temperature. When the water cools and the sodium acetate remains dissolved the solution is said to be super saturated. Because super saturated solutions are so unstable crystallization occurs very quickly. When sodium acetate crystallizes it creates compounds with water still attached, these compounds are called hydrates. This is what makes the crystals that look like ice.