SLIME

 

WHAT YOU NEED

• Dixie cups
• Popsicle sticks
• White Glue
• Borax
• Water
• Glycerin
• Food Colouring
  

WHAT TO DO

1. Mix one cup of warm water with one cup of borax (if the mixture is really pasty add more water)
2. Into each Dixie cup add 15 mL of glue, 2.5 mL of glycerin, 10 mL of water, and a drop of food colouring.
3. Stir with popsicle stick.
4. Add 5 mL of the borax solution. Take away popsicle stick and stir with hands. The mixture should slime up. Mix it up with your hands, roll it, and squish it.
5. If the mixture is too runny add more borax solution.

WHAT’S GOING ON?

This slime is a special kind of substance called a polymer. Polymers are more commonly known as plastics and are found practically everywhere (shopping bags, polyester, nylon). Polymers are substances that are made of repeating units called monomers which are linked together like a chain to form a long polymer unit. The glue that is used to make slime is a polymer, but its chains are not linked together. The Borax contains molecules that link the glue’s polymer chains together to form a new "solid" polymer.

This reaction is an endothermic reaction, which means that it needs to take in heat in order to bond. This is why when the borax is added it must be stirred by hand. The heat from your hands actually drives the reaction! Test this by letting the slime sit on a table or in a cup. It should go runny until it is worked by hand again to make it more solid.

QUESTIONS

1. What are some types of plastics?
2. What does poly mean? What does mono mean? (think of some words with "poly" or "mono" in them to get the idea)
3. What is a polymer? What is a monomer?
4. Why does the slime go runny when you leave it on the desk?

SAFETY

Do not eat!