Ancient Greece – Timeline
17 May 2025
Timeline of ancient greece Neolithic (New Stone Age) c.7000 BCE Early settlers begin farming in Greece. 3200-2300 BCE Cycladic culture on the
These amazing rock formations are called stalactites and stalagmites. Stalactites are the ones that dangle down from the ceiling like pairs of tights (or tites – get it?!). Stalagmites grow up from the floor.
How are these strange shapes made? We need to start by thinking about how water gets into a cave…
When it rains, water soaks into the ground where it moves into the gaps between the soil and rocks. Gravity pulls the water downwards, and as it travels, some of the rock becomes dissolved in the water. This is what happens when you add salt to water. You can’t see the salt because it breaks down into single molecules, but you know it is still there because you can taste it (don’t taste it though – ed). The salt has been dissolved.
The dissolved bits of rock are known as minerals. You might have seen some of them listed as ingredients on a bottle of mineral water. The most common minerals are calcium and magnesium because these are the most soluble (easily dissolved) minerals that form Earth’s rocks.
When the mineral-rich water reaches a cave, it drips from the ceiling to the floor. When it drips, a small circle of minerals is left behind. With each drip, another tiny circle of minerals is left on top of the last one. Over time, the circle turns into a hollow tube known as a straw stalactite. These stalactites are very fragile, but if they get blocked, the mineral-rich water can flow over the outside of the stalactite making it much stronger. When the drips reach the floor they make stalagmites in pretty much the same way. This is why stalactites and stalagmites are usually found in pairs.
Most stalactites grow at about 0.13 mm a year – that’s about the width of a human hair, but they can grow 25 times faster where there is fast-flowing, mineral-rich water. This is what happens at the Petrifying Well at Mother Shipton’s Cave in Yorkshire. Local people have been adding everyday objects to the caves for many years. The items sit in the drips, and the minerals left on the surface eventually join up to make rocky gloves, hats and even teddy bears!
You will need
– 2 identical glasses
– Hot water
– Measuring jug
– Dessert spoon
– Salt
– Small drip bowl or ramekin
– 30 cm cotton string or wool (natural fibres work best)
– 2 paper clips
– Somewhere safe to leave the experiment for two weeks
– Magnifying glass
1. Measure how much water you need to fill both of your glasses. Now put that amount of hot water in your measuring jug. Boiling water is best (you might need an adult’s help) but hot tap water will also work.
2. Make your supersaturated salt solution: start by adding five spoons of salt to the water in the jug. Stir it until it has dissolved (disappeared). Keep adding more salt until it stops dissolving.
3. Share your salt solution between the two glasses. Put them in your safe place.
4. Put the drip bowl between the two glasses.
5. Tie a knot in the middle of your string and place a paper clip on each end.
6. Dip the string in the salt solution to get it wet.
7. Place each end of the string into the salt solution, with the knot positioned over the drip bowl. If you put the knot below the level of the salt solution you will get a drip. This is how rock stalactites are made, but because we are doing a quick experiment using salt, we need to use a slightly different method! Move your glasses further apart so the knot is about level with the salt solution. This will form a smaller drop which does not drip as much.
8. Observe your experiment.
At first, the string will just look wet, but something is happening! The string is actually drying out all the time as the water evaporates into the air. However, more salt solution is drawn along the string to replace it. The drier the air, the faster this happens. So if you are doing this experiment in the Spanish summer it will happen faster than during winter in rainy Britain!
As the water leaves the string, it leaves the salt behind. The salt solution on the string becomes stronger and stronger until the salt molecules start to join together to form crystals. If this happens slowly, you get large crystals. The longer you leave the experiment, the bigger the crystals become.
Don’t forget to keep the knot at the same level as the salt solution. It will need to move downwards as the salt solution evaporates. You can do this by moving the glasses closer together.
9. Decide for yourself when your experiment is over. This picture shows the string after two weeks.
Did you get a straw stalactite? Take a look at your crystals. Can you see the cube-shape typical of salt crystals? You might also get crystals all over the two glasses. Have a look at them with a magnifying glass.
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Words: The AQUILA Team
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