How To Grow Calcium Copper Acetate Hexahydrate Crystals

By
Anne Marie Helmenstine, Ph.D.
Chemistry Expert
  • Ph.D., Biomedical Sciences, University of Tennessee at Knoxville
  • B.A., Physics and Mathematics, Hastings College
Dr. Helmenstine holds a Ph.D. in biomedical sciences and is a science writer, educator, and consultant. She has taught science courses at the high school, college, and graduate levels.
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Anne Marie Helmenstine, Ph.D.
Updated March 06, 2017

Calcium copper acetate [CaCu(CH3COO)2.6H2O] forms beautiful blue tetragonal crystals that are easy and fun to grow yourself.

Difficulty: Average

Time Required: a few days

Here's How

  1. Stir 22.5 grams of powdered calcium oxide into 200 ml of distilled water.
  2. Add 48 ml of glacial acetic acid. Stir until the solution clears. Filter out any insoluble material.
  3. In a separate container, dissolve 20 grams of copper acetate monohydrate in 150 ml of hot distilled water.
  4. Mix the two solutions. Cover the mixture and allow it to cool undisturbed.
  5. Crystals should begin to spontaneously deposit within a day. If no crystals form, allow a drop of the solution to evaporate onto a watch glass, scrape up the resulting crystals, and use them to seed the main solution.

What You Need

  • Powdered calcium oxide
  • Distilled water
  • Glacial acetic acid
  • Copper acetate monohydrate