It looks so gross.
So I'm here at the American Chemical Society in my office, and I
should be writing or answering a million emails, but I really don't feel like it.
So instead, I'm gonna make some slime.
If you'd also like to make slime instead of working, here's your shopping list.
We've got glue.
One of this glues main ingredients is polyvinyl alcohol, a large
molecule with a bunch of repeating subunits.
Make sure that caps on before you do this. Cool.
I've seen a lot of slime videos online, and the magnetic slime
looks like a ton of fun to play with, so I'm making it first. So to make it
magnetic I'm adding three tablespoons of little bits of iron to the glue.
Kinda looks like a... oreo cream sundae.
But, don't drink it.
This spoon and Bowl were sacrificed for science, definitely don't use them to eat food after this.
Here I'm measuring out just over a hundred
milliliters of water, and then adding a teaspoon of borax powder. Then this is
really important to make sure it actually dissolves.
Make sure the water is warm, otherwise the borax might not fully dissolve.
Well, this is taking longer than I anticipated.
When you add borax solution to the glue-water mixture borate ions begin cross-linking polyvinyl
alcohol polymers in the glue, joining them together. And when enough get
cross-linked they begin to trap water, making the spongy mesh that is slime.
Oh, it looks disgusting, do you see this?
Okay. That's very slimy. There's still a little extra water which makes me wonder how
good was my mixing really?
Oh that is slime. That is definitely some slime and
I can ooh, oh!
Okay is it actually magnetic? Yes we have slime, but... it sounds so gross!
Oh my gosh I'm never going back to work ever again.
I'll just make slime from now on. Oh my gosh look how cool!
The iron filings in the slime are attracted to this strong magnet made of neodymium, iron, and boron.
Oh that is, that is really sticking there, check that out! That looks like a... oh!
Our slime is moving pretty well in response to the neodymium magnets, but the
stronger the magnet and the more iron, the more the slime will move.
It's sucking the magnet in! It's now just like, consumed the magnet. This is very exciting.
Whoa, it worked. Most productive thing I've done all day.
The magnetic slime was so cool that I decided to make more, but this time I switched
out the iron filings for some food coloring. And with this you can really
have some fun incorporating whatever color you can get from the food coloring
you have available.
OFF CAMERA: Sam, I need that script!
Don't forget to clean the space you made slime on when you're done, and to always wash your hands.
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