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
Lithium cobalt oxide Lithium cobalt oxide Lithium cobalt oxide, sometimes called lithium cobaltate or lithium cobaltite, is a chemical compound with formula . The cobalt atoms are formally in the +3 oxidation state, hence the IUPAC name lithium cobalt(III) oxide. Lithium cobalt oxide is a dark blue or bluish-gray crystalline solid, and is commonly used in the positive electrodes of lithium-ion batteries. The structure of has been studied with numerous techniques including x-ray diffraction, electron microscopy, neutron powder diffraction, and EXAFS. The solid consists of layers of monovalent lithium cations () that lie between extended anionic sheets of cobalt and oxygen atoms, arranged