Cool Science Club

Polymer Slime

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A polymer is a molecule with a lot of neat properties.  They often make stretchy materials because the molecules themselves act like stretchy little springs that wind together.  You can make a cool polymer slime from simple household materials.  Try it!
 

 

Materials:

·         White glue, such as Elmer’s glue or woodworking glue.

·         Liquid Laundry Starch, such as Sta-Flo brand (laundry aisle of fewer and fewer grocery stores Click here for store locator  Click here to purchase online) .  Put the starch in a small cup or better yet, an empty water bottle with a with one of those pop top lids (you know, the lids you can pull open and push closed.)

·         A paper or styrofoam plate for mixing.

·         A ziptop bag, film canister, plastic easter egg or similar container for storage of your slime

Procedure:

1.        Squeeze a blob of glue the size of a quarter onto the plate.

2.        Add about a tablespoon of  liquid starch onto the glue.

3.        Now, prepare to get messy.  Take two fingers and use a circular motion to combine the glue and starch together.  If it stays gluey, add a few more drops of liquid starch.

4.        Pick up the blob and knead it in the palm of your hand, using your fingertips.

Result:  You’ve made a cool polymer slime!  Some times it comes out real slimy, sometimes it comes out more rubbery.  Make several batches till you get a few you like.

 

More Fun:

·         Colored Slime:  Color your slime with water based colored markers and knead the color throughout them

·         Sparkle slime:  Add glitter for outrageous glittery slime.

Polymers are very important molecules and are all around us, even inside us!  The basic polymer molecule is a large molecule with repeating chains of chemical units.  Polymers occur naturally as well as being manmade.  Some examples of natural polymers are cellulose, starch and even DNA.

Man-made polymer examples are plastics, sytrofoam, polyester and of course, Silly Putty!

Young scientist stretches a blob of polymer slime.
This scientist combined several batches of polymer slime then colored them to make a big blue blob!

  

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