Slime in Room 13
Are you amazed by the latest slime obsession? Well, making slime is actually Science! Slime is chemistry!
We experimented to observe and learn more about the process. We wanted to know whether you could make slime without Borate. However, we found that the borate is a key ingredient as it mixes with the PVA glue to make a stretchy substance. The scientific term for this is called cross-linking!
PVA glue is a polymer, it is made up of long, repeated strands. These strands, otherwise known as molecules, flow past each other keeping the glue in a liquid state! When you add the borate to the mixture, it starts to connect these long strands together. They begin to tangle and mix until the substance is less like the liquid you started with and is thicker and rubberier like slime!
Adding water is also really important when you’re making slime. Imagine leaving glue out for a period of time, it would go hard and rubbery. The water prevents this from happening.
We also added a dash of food colouring to our experiment to make our slime look a little more aesthetically pleasing!!