Place a seed crystal of sodium acetate on a board or flat piece of plastic. Slowly pour saturated sodium acetate solution onto the crystal. A tower of crystallized sodium acetate will grow upwards.

Place a seed crystal of sodium acetate on a board or flat piece of plastic. Slowly pour saturated sodium acetate solution onto the crystal. A tower of crystallized sodium acetate will grow upwards.

Less often, an alkyl or aryl halide is treated with a carboxylate salt. But these methods don’t work in the case of vinyl acetate and other vinyl esters because vinyl alcohols aren’t stable—they ...