by J.T. Livingston

Created on: April 07, 2009   Last Updated: April 08, 2009

Want to hear some good news? You don't have to be a rocket scientist to learn how to make rock candy! It's true. You might help to be one to fully understand the scientific process involved in getting the candy to its final, delicious formbut, not to create your own colorful masterpieces.

Rock candy is the purest form of sugar known to man sweet news. This intriguing candied sugar, origin of which began in India and Iran, is also known as kandiszcukor in Hungary.

Rock candy actually forms when a highly concentrated sugar solution is boiled at a high temperature, that's the simple explanation. Are you ready for the more scientific explanation?

Rock candy is known as a supersaturated solution of sugar and water. All supersaturated refers to is when more of the dissolved materialsugarthan could be dissolved by the solventwaterunder normal circumstances.

Once the solution boils, sucrose molecules form and begin to crystallize, which is also known as "nucleation", a physical processnot a chemical process. A popular advertised example of nucleation was the Coke and Mentos explosion. How cool was that experiment!

By letting the water heat up significantly before adding the sugar allows for more sugar to dissolve, which in turn, produces larger crystals that form after several days. Yes, several days, I'm afraid this is not a quick process.

Now that the scientific explanation has been provided, why not gather up the few simple ingredients/tools needed to make your own rock candy. Get the kids to help.

It's safe and simple fun, but does require adult supervision since boiling water is involved.

All you need is:

1 cup of water

2-3 cups of sugar

a clear glass jar

a pencil, butter knife, skewer, or Popsicle stick

some string (cotton or wool works best)

a pan for boiling water

a spoon for stirring

a paper clip

flavoring (optional)

food coloring (optional)

I have such fond, childhood memories of helping my grandmother make this delicious confection; she often used it as a reward for helping her with household chores or making good grades in school. I think of her whenever I see this packaged candy in stores today.

She would be glad to know that I intend to share the same experience of making this candy with my own granddaughter one day soon. Sure hope mine turns out as delicious as hers always did. There are dozens of sites online that provide detailed instructions on how to prepare your own rock candy, but this is one of my

favorites. Feel free to try it with your own kids one day soon before they get too big (or too cool) to enjoy the awesomeness of the experiment. http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Rock-Candy

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