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Community Corner

"Rock Candy": Science Fun for the Whole Family from GlaxoSmithKline's Science in the Summer

PHILADELPHIA — GlaxoSmithKline’s Science in the Summer (www.scienceinthesummer.com) returns to the Greater Philadelphia area for its 27th year. Sponsored by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), the free educational program is administered by The Franklin Institute and conducted in partnership with local libraries. Using simple, inquiry-based, hands-on experiments and everyday objects, GSK’s Science in the Summer provides students entering 2nd through 6th grades with first-hand knowledge of complex concepts, such as Newton’s laws of motion, what causes static electricity and how genetic traits make us who we are.

Following is a fun science activity from the program curriculum that families can do at home. Please note: For optimum safety, an adult should be present during all experiments.  Also, children should wear safety glasses when conducting experiments at home and school.

Rock Candy

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What is a crystal? A crystal is a solid in which the atoms and molecules are arranged in an orderly, repeating pattern.  Salt, sugar, Epsom salts and gemstones have crystalline structures. Snow and ice also form into crystals. Rock candy is sugar crystals.

You will need:  An adult helper, saucepan and stove, cotton string, pencils, clean glass jar (a 32-ounce spaghetti jar works nicely), hot water, four or more cups of granulated sugar and a magnifying glass.

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Experiment:  Please follow the following steps:

1)     Cut a six-inch piece of string. Tie one end of the string around the middle of a pencil. Rub the string with sugar. Set aside.

2)     Ask an adult to boil two cups of water in a saucepan. Let it cool and then pour it into a jar.

3)     Add a ½-cup of sugar to the jar and stir until it dissolves.  Keep adding ½-cups of sugar and stirring until the sugar no longer dissolves.  This is a saturated solution.

4)     Hold the pencil so that the string falls into the water. Lay the pencil across the top of the jar. Make sure the string does not touch the sides or bottom of the jar. Loosely cover the top of the jar with a paper towel. Allow the jar to sit undisturbed for several days.

5)     After a few days, large sugar crystals will begin to grow on the string. These crystals are rock candy. Take a look with a magnifying glass to see what the crystals look like up close. Then use a magnifying glass to look at sugar crystals from a sugar bowl. How are the crystals different? How are they similar?  Now you can eat your rock candy!

6)     Troubleshooting:  If you don’t see anything form within a few days, try boiling the syrup again and dissolving another cup of sugar in it. Let it cool slightly, then pour back into the jar and re-insert the strings.

7)     Variation: You can create rock candy in different colors by adding a few drops of food coloring to the water when you are making the solution.

Taught by certified teachers, GSK’s Science in the Summer courses vary by county and continue through early August. This summer, students will learn about Simple Machines (Bucks County), Physical Science & Electricity (Chester County), Bioscience (Delaware County), Genetics (Montgomery County) and Chemistry (Philadelphia County). For more information about the program, please visit www.scienceinthesummer.com or your local library.

About GlaxoSmithKline – one of the world's leading research-based pharmaceutical and healthcare companies – is committed to improving the quality of human life by enabling people to do more, feel better and live longer. For further information, go to us.gsk.com, follow us on twitter.com/GSKUS or visit our blog (www.morethanmedicine.us.gsk.com/blog/).  

About The Franklin Institute – Founded in honor of America’s first scientist, Benjamin Franklin, The Franklin Institute is a renowned and innovative leader in the field of science and technology learning, as well as a dynamic center of activity. It is dedicated to creating a passion for science by offering new and exciting access to science and technology in ways that would dazzle and delight its namesake. For more information, please visit The Franklin Institute on the Web at www.fi.edu, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/TheFranklinInstitute or follow on twitter.com/TheFranklin.

Editor’s Note: Teacher, student, and sponsor spokespersons are available for interviews. A three-minute video on the program is also available for download (Preview the video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJ7_fZheUgY). Please contact Camille Dager at

215-440-9800 or Camille@hbmadv.com for contacts and/or downloads.
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