SLIME

** Video: ** Still have to film at school.
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[[image:slime-science-a.gif width="149" height="209"]][[image:slime2.jpg width="257" height="194"]]
 ==== Explanation of Chemistry behind Slime:  1. Throughout chemistry, you learn the importance of chemical and physical reactions between chemicals. The ingredients in slime combined to cause a chemical reaction, a precess in which two or more substances are changed into others. ====

====2. When you mix Elmer's glue with water, you make a substance that is known as a polymer (polyvinyl acetate). The ** PVA molecules ** start out as a liquid in this slime recipe but are quickly hooked together with the introduction of the Borax (the chemical name for Borax is sodium tetraborate). Scientists call the Borax solution as the ** "cross-linker" ** in the creation of the Slime. Borax molecules are like tiny paper clips that hook together the long chains of PVA molecules making a slippery, gooey mixture known as Slime. ====

====3. Most liquids, such as water, are made up of small, unconnected molecules bouncing around and into one another. Single molecules are called monomers. Monomer liquids flow easily and are rarely sticky. ====

====4. In other substances, the monomers are linked together in identical, repetitive segments that form long chains of molecules known as polymers. These long chains don’t flow over and across one another very easily. Like a bowl of cooked spaghetti, they roll over and around one another but they’re not linked to each other. The ** PVA ** used in this activity is a liquid polymer. ====


====  Chemical Equations Involved:   ==== ====-We start by dissolving some Borax (Na2B4O7.10H2O) in water, which dissociates into sodium ions and tetraborate ions. The tetraborate ion reacts with water to produce boric acid and the OH- ion. B4O7-2(aq) + 7 H2O <—> 4 H3BO3(aq) + 2 OH-(aq) ====

H3BO3(aq) + 2 H2O <— > B(OH)4-(aq) + H3O+(aq)
====<span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-align: left;">So now we have the form of the borate ion that we need. Hydrogen bonds form between the borate ion and the OH groups on the sides of the PVA. ====

<span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-align: left;"> ====<span style="color: #0000ff; display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; text-align: left;">Cool Fact: <span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; text-align: left;"> Slime is like Mucus. Mucus is a thick gelatinous fluid secreted or produced by various mucus cells that line the intestines, the nose, urinary and reproductive cells and other body organs. Mucus is made up of water, salts, glycoprotein (mucin) and other small cells. ====

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<span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-align: left;"> ====<span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-align: left;"> **<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">Practical Application: ** ====

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====<span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; text-align: left;"> - The mixture of Elmer’s Glue with Borax and water produces a putty-like material called a polymer, a long chain of molecules. The polymer in the slime demonstration behaves the same as cooked spaghetti. ====

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====<span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; text-align: left;"> ·When a pile of freshly cooked spaghetti comes out of the hot water and into a bowl, the strands flow like a liquid from the pan to the bowl. After awhile, the water drains off of the spaghetti and the strands start to stick together, taking on a rubbery surface. After waiting for all of the water to evaporate, the pile of spaghetti turns into a solid mass. ====

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====<span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; text-align: left;"> · Many natural and fake polymers behave in a similar way. Polymers are made out of long strands of molecules like spaghetti. If the long molecules slide past each other easily, then the substance acts like a liquid because the molecules flow. If the molecules stick together at a few places along the strand, then the substance behaves like a rubbery solid called an elastomer. Borax is the compound that is responsible for hooking the glue’s molecules together to form the putty-like material. ====

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<span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-align: left;">** Works Cited: **
<span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-align: left;">"GAK - Elmer's Glue Borax Recipe at Steve Spangler Science." // Science Projects Experiments, Educational Toys & Science Toys //. Web. 15 Jan. 2010. <[]>.

"GAK - Elmer's Glue Borax Recipe at Steve Spangler Science." // Science Projects Experiments, Educational Toys & Science Toys //. Web. 15 Jan. 2010.<[]>

"Household Science for Kids: Slime & Polymers." // .: fatlion.com :. // Web. 15 Jan. 2010. <[]>. <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">