Makeshift snow globe

How to make snow in the bottle

The co­zi­est snow­fall in the world!

Safe­ty pre­cau­tions

Only un­der adult su­per­vi­sion.

Equip­ment and reagents

  • 200 g am­mo­ni­um chlo­ride;
  • 300 mL boil­ing wa­ter;
  • wa­ter bath;
  • bot­tle;
  • fun­nel.

Step-by-step in­struc­tions

Com­bine 300 mL boil­ing wa­ter and 200 g am­mo­ni­um chlo­ride. Heat the so­lu­tion in a wa­ter bath to help the am­mo­ni­um chlo­ride dis­solve. Heat un­til the so­lu­tion be­comes trans­par­ent and the am­mo­ni­um chlo­ride dis­solves com­plete­ly. Use a fun­nel to pour the so­lu­tion into a bot­tle. Over time, "snow" be­gins to fall!

Process de­scrip­tion

When heat­ed, the sol­u­bil­i­ty of many salts, in­clud­ing am­mo­ni­um chlo­ride, in­creas­es. Thus, heat­ing the so­lu­tion in a wa­ter bath helps the max­i­mum amount of am­mo­ni­um chlo­ride dis­solve in wa­ter (around 66g/100mL wa­ter). When cooled, am­mo­ni­um chlo­ride’s sol­u­bil­i­ty de­creas­es and some of its crys­tals pre­cip­i­tate. These re­sem­ble real snow!

Try it