Green SlimeJohn Castillo & Jordan Yrastorza

Background

The definition of slime is ‘thin, glutinous mud or any ropy/viscous liquid matter’. Despite of how gross the characteristics of slime and how it is defined– Oh did I mention that it is also known as a viscous secretion of animal or vegetable origin? Yeah, real gross. It is still cool though because apparently, we are curious about it and we actually think its pretty cool. It is unique polymer because it possesses the qualities of being a sold and a liquid AT THE SAME TIME (Wowserz!). This is possible because there are chains between polymers so then can stretch and bend. Pretty cool.

So Green slime?

Question: ‘How can we use simple chemicals to create a polymer that’s flexible?’

Purpose

To find a way to make a substance that is a SOLID and a LIQUID. (Flexible Polymer)

Also, which type of glue can be best suited in making slime.

Hypothesis

If more borax is added, the slime will have a much thicker consistency.

Materials

Containers

Gloves

BagsWater

Teaspoon & Tablespoon

Food Coloring

Glue (Wood or White)

Borax Powder(Not Cocaine)

Procedure

Basically mix Food coloring and water; then mix in

glue(in one container)

Mix in borax powder and water in another container

Mix both solutions and watch the slime!

Procedure (cont.)

WE GET SLIME!

BTWWood Glue Slime is shown here.

Data

Type of Glue Did we get slime?

Wood Yes. Was more liquid than solid.

White Yes. Very flexible, had the “flexible polymer” look and feel.

Type of Glue Did we get slime?

Wood Yes. Very slimy. (same as with reg. mix)

White Yes. Thicker consistency. Not as flexible (by a little).

Regular Mix (Measurements from the Experiment)

Custom Mix (2 Tablespoons of Water, 1 Tablespoon of Glue and Borax)

So What’s the difference?

Well, wood glue seems to be much more “liquidy” than the slime created using white glue.

Basically, wood glue looked like gooey slimy alien blood looking sticky liquid while white glue slime looked like Silly Putty.

We tested this

See the difference?

WOOD GLUE WHITE GLUE

DemonstrationNow this is the part where we ACTUALLY get the audience’s attention.Now let’s make some Slime!

Conclusion/Analysis

Yes you can make slime or “flexible polymer” with simple ingredients.

It seems that the best type of glue to use to get more of a ‘solid’ feel, is the white glue. The wood glue had more of a liquid characteristic and got stuck to places more often.

There is a chemical reaction going on when the borax and glue solutions are mixed together, the polymer found in the glue, polyvinyl acetate undergoes a change.

The bonds are cross-linked, therefore makes the glue stick to itself more than on any other surface. The borax acts like the crosslinking agent for the glue.

The flexibility of the polymer is possible because the molecules are not fixed in place (stretchy stretchy).

Conclusion (cont.)

More borax was used (custom mix) and it did make a change. The white glue slime was a bit more stiff.

There were possible sources of error in this experiment. One could be not using the right amount, either not using sufficient or way too much of one ingredient. But most of the time this experiment works well.

A small improvement can be using other tyoes of glue or adhesive liquids to see which would create the ‘better’ slime.

Bibliography

http://www.sciencefairadventure.com/ProjectDetail.aspx?ProjectID=145

http://www.madsci.org/experiments/archive/878680114.Ch.html

http://www.sciencebob.com/experiments/polymer.php

http://chemistry.about.com/od/madscientistlab/a/slimeproject.htm