Chemical garden Chemical garden A chemical garden is an experiment in chemistry usually performed by adding metal salts such as copper sulfate or cobalt(II) chloride to an aqueous solution of sodium silicate (otherwise known as waterglass). This results in growth of plant-like forms in minutes to hours. The chemical garden was first observed and described by Johann Rudolf Glauber in 1646. In its original form, the chemical garden involved the introduction of ferrous chloride (FeCl) crystals into a solution of potassium silicate (KSiO). The chemical garden relies on most transition metal silicates being insoluble in water and coloured. A metal salt such
Cobalt(II) nitrate Cobalt(II) nitrate Cobalt Nitrate is the Inorganic compound with the formula Co(NO3)xHO. It is cobalt(II) salt. The most common form is the hexahydrate Co(NO)·6HO, which is a red-brown deliquescent salt that is soluble in water and other polar solvents. As well as the anhydrous compound Co(NO), several hydrates of cobalt(II) nitrate exist. These hydrates have the chemical formula Co(NO)·"n"HO, where "n" = 0, 2, 4, 6. Anhydrous cobalt(II) nitrate adopts a three-dimensional polymeric network structure, with each cobalt(II) atom approximately octahedrally coordinated by six oxygen atoms, each from a different nitrate ion. Each nitrate ion coordinates to three cobalts. The