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CRYSTAL
GROWING COMPETITION
Teachers, students
and parents should consult the
Rules
for Crystal Growing in the
SASTA (www.sasta.asn.au/)
Oliphant Science Awards (OSA)
information booklet. (www.sasta.asn.au/OSA/index.htm)
Information on the OSA website
includes advice to students
and notes for teachers.
The rules cover:
· conditions of entry
· judging
· other advice
It must be
stressed that crystals submitted
for judging in the Oliphant
Science Awards (OSA) have
already been assessed within
schools so that the criteria
listed in the judging section
are adhered to. It is suggested
that where many crystals are
grown within a school that a
competition be held at that
level and the most worthy crystals
can then be submitted to the
OSA. The RACI Chemical Education
Group can assist schools with
certificate templates and participation
stickers.
In addition
to the information on the OSA
website, participants may wish
to consult: "Advice
for students" and "Notes
for teachers" on this
website. A pro-forma logbook
is available for download
as a Word
Document or Adobe
Acrobat PDF. Participants
may also wish to visit the following
websites related to crystal
growing: www.sciencenet.org.uk/articlesfeatures/chem/crystal.html
and www.seawhy.com/xl.html
Secondary schools
would generally hold the crystal
growing material, alum,
as a material used within its
science curriculum .
For primary
schools and for private entrants
(not affiliated with a school),
obtaining alum could involve
liaising with the neighbourhood
high school, or purchasing some
from a hardware/garden centre
or from a chemical firm.
If purchased
from a garden centre, the alum
may not be of sufficient purity
to begin to grow decent crystals.
To remove insoluble contaminants
would require dissolving the
batch of alum in minimum distilled
water, filtering the lot with
a fine muslin or a coarse filter
paper and slowly evaporating
the filtered solution to dryness.
Ace Chemical
Co. (119a Mooringe Avenue, Camden
Park, phone 8376 0844) have
supplied schools in the past
with alum and have indeed sponsored
this competition.
Material Safety
Data Sheet for Alum: MSDS
for Alum
For more information please contact:
Ian
McMahon Email mcmahon@tsc.sa.edu.au,
Phone : 8352 5811
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