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I made some sodium acetate. Definitely not pure or anything close. But I just did it as a quick experiment. Just some vinegar and baking powder.

When I search how to make $\ce{NaOAc}$ crystals, people say put crystal in it. I understand how that works but I don't have crystals in the first place.

As for the metal button, I don't have one either. I'm left with this kinda thick opaque liquid. I want to crystallize it. Can you help me with that?

Reiteration

I boiled the solution for so long, but I still didn't get any crystal formation. I left it in room temperature and tried to freeze it for more than a day with no luck. I've evaporated so much water that it is became very thick.

What I'm trying to achieve is, getting crystal to fully crystallize the salt to then dry it and make a powder.

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  • $\begingroup$ @Mithoron The OP says he got some crystals with freezing it. Does that work? If so, why don't he use the crystals to further crystallize the rest? I'm not really sure how that works but I left it in the freezer for long time and it is still liquid. $\endgroup$
    – Roo Tenshi
    Dec 29, 2021 at 18:28
  • $\begingroup$ @Mithoron can you open this question? It's not a duplicate. Sure, the other user asks the "same question" but his conditions are different. He is in a different situation. Thus, the answers he get is different than what I need. I hope you can re-open this $\endgroup$
    – Roo Tenshi
    Dec 30, 2021 at 18:32
  • $\begingroup$ can you edit the question to differentiate it from the other question? Include anything that can make this question different from the other. $\endgroup$
    – Nilay Ghosh
    Dec 31, 2021 at 4:53

1 Answer 1

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Evaporate a bit of your solution until crystals appear. Then you will have a crystal, or several crystals thereof. Some of those crystalline structures may be a mix of sodium acetate and sodium bicarbonate (this latter is what makes baking soda). You might as well suspend a thin thread of cotton into a glass filled with your solution, and let it evaporate. Crystals will form around the thread, but that shall take a long time, so be prepared to be patient. If you want to save time, depart from a concentrate solution of your salts (by boiling it until it becomes a bit milky).

https://esplora.org.mt/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Salt-Crystals-Website.jpg

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  • $\begingroup$ The thread method is very cool. I didn't know that was possible. I tried to reduce (evaporate) my solution a bit more. It got to a point where it's very very viscous. A very thin white layer were left along the walls of the pan where there were solution before. I doesn't look like a crystal to make because it's very smooth and thin powder like. I tried to freeze it but nothing happens $\endgroup$
    – Roo Tenshi
    Dec 30, 2021 at 18:37
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    $\begingroup$ One thing we should have checked beforehand is whether or not sodium acetate is either hygroscopic or, worse yet, deliquescent. Whichever the case, crystals may never form naturally (by evaporation at room temperature) because the salt keeps absorbing moisture from the air (1st case) or dissolving itself in the very moisture is absorbs. $\endgroup$
    – Carlos Gouveia
    Dec 31, 2021 at 0:03
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    $\begingroup$ @RooTenshi Check this out. It seems that sodium acetate is deliquescent. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_acetate $\endgroup$
    – Carlos Gouveia
    Dec 31, 2021 at 0:04
  • $\begingroup$ Hmmm. I will need to understand further before asking for more advice. Thank you for guiding me. $\endgroup$
    – Roo Tenshi
    Dec 31, 2021 at 21:04

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