Crystallized Fudge Research

Category: Chemistry
Experimental Question: How does the temperature of the environment affect the growth of crystals in fudge?
Hypothesis: If crystallized fudge is cooled under two different temperatures, then the lower temperature will grow bigger crystals than the high temperature, because solubility in cold temperatures is lower.
Why fudge was chosen: Crystals form in igneous rocks, and this experiment was chosen to explore the sizes of crystals formed under different conditions. The topic was decided upon because crystals are formed under extreme conditions, and it would be helpful to know under which conditions do they grow the largest. The information would be helpful to know because if anyone decided to grow crystals on their own, they

From what is understood, magma cools to form rocks in the same way as fudge cools to form crystals. The fudge placed at room temperature took longer to form and did had more noticeable sugar crystals in it and had a more grainy texture, while the fudge placed in the refrigerator had less sugar crystals and had a smooth texture. Since the formation of rocks is similar to the formation of crystals, the hypothesis was that if crystallized fudge is cooled under two different temperatures, then the lower temperature will grow bigger crystals than the high temperature, because solubility in cold temperatures is lower. (Procedure)In the procedure, the fudge took about 45 minutes to an hour to melt, mix, and cool before it was placed in the bread pans. Once in the pans, each portion was placed where it was going to cool: one in the refrigerator, one sitting out at room temperature. The pans stayed in their respective cooling spots for five to six hours, until they were both completely cooled. Then, the fudge was cut open and results were

The results of each trial did not vary much. The fudge in each category was all close to the same size. However, in trial three, the size of the crystals seemed slightly bigger than in the first two. The size of crystals in trial one for the room temperature cooled fudge was approximately 1 mm. But, in trial three the size was approximately 0.8 mm. The crystals in the refrigerator-cooled fudge did not show up in trials one and two, but in trial three they were noticeable. It was hard to tell differences between trials one, two, and three for the refrigerated fudge because they were too small of crystals to