Sapphire Labs LLC

Crystal Clay® Metal Toxicity Environmental Science Experiment

With Crystal Clay® classroom kits, students can learn about the toxic effects metals can have on the growth of several different plant types. This clear soil growing kit allows students to easily observe the full root structure of each plant and watch how they grow. 

 To demonstrate how Crystal Clay® classroom kits can be used, we created a simple experiment (shown below) by adding a special metal solution to each set of plants. We used aluminum, copper, iron, zinc, sodium, and potassium solutions calibrated for a range of metal concentrations from 5 to 100 ppm.

 Click on the pictures below to see metal taking effect!

 Students can be challenged to develop their own study design, or follow the experiment based on what is shown here.

 This experiment is currently being used in college classes to give students a realistic view of how metals effect both foliage and root growth in nature.

 For use only with the Crystal Clay classroom kits.


Sodium
Copper
Aluminum
Nickel
Iron
Potassium
Zinc