In this experiment, you will discover what slime really is, what its components are and how it is made!

Materials

You will be surprised that you can actually make your own slime by just using materials that can be found in our homes. By mixing just two chemicals together, you can actually create your own slime!

To start, you will need the following materials:

• White wood glue
• Borax powder (can be bought from the laundry detergent aisle at the grocery store)
• Food colouring (any colour of your preference)
• Water
• Measuring spoon
• Two containers
• Airtight container where you can store your slime

Procedures

This experiment takes no more than 10 minutes! It is that quick and easy.

To start off, get your container and put one tablespoon of glue in it and mix it with another tablespoon of water and a tiny drop of the food colouring. Stir it with a stick or another spoon.

In another container, put one teaspoon of borax powder and mix it with one tablespoon of water. Stir the mixture until the borax powder dissolves, creating a borax solution.

Now that your two solutions are ready, pour the borax solution into the other container, and mix it with your coloured glue mixture. Mix the two solutions together. You can do this using your hands. Notice that slime starts to form. Voila! You have just made your very own slime!

Now, try doing other clusters but use a different colour of food colouring. Get creative with all the colours and have some slime fun! Do not forget to place your slime inside an airtight container to prevent it from growing mould.

WARNING: Borax powder is poisonous and may cause serious problems when ingested. Make sure you wash your hands thoroughly after you perform this experiment. It would also be great if an adult is around for supervision.

Discussion

Slime is a viscous liquid matter similar to a glutinous mud. It borders liquid and solid which makes it very fun to play with. Looking back at our experiment, the slime was created by mixing glue and borax solution together. Now the question is, what's in glue and borax that caused them to behave this way, and producing a slime?

The glue mixture is expected to behave like liquid and is therefore likely to flow. When we included borax in the mixture, the borax prevents the glue from flowing like normal. The result is then a material that is liquid like, but does not flow. We call this kind of material a polymer.

Polymer

A polymer possesses qualities present in a solid and in a liquid matter. This means it can behave like a liquid, in the sense that it can follow the shape of its container but can at the same time be picked up just like a solid. If you recall the properties of matter, the particles of a solid are very intact and compact while those of the liquid are slightly more spread out causing it to break apart. However, particles in a polymer behave in a way where they chain themselves together causing it to behave like liquid but not too loose to break apart or flow.

Other examples of polymer substances are gums, rubber bands and jell-o!