Hello, and welcome to this year's global experiment
by the Royal Society of Chemistry.
In this experiment, we will be investigating the properties of hydrogels.
They are long chained chemicals also known as polymers.
They are incredibly absorbent and hold huge amounts of water.
These superabsorbent polymers occur naturally, such as mucus or blood clots,
but they can also be man-made.
Often produced as small beads or in a granulated form
that expand and become jelly-like when they absorb water.
Man-made hydrogels can be found all around us.
Just think of a situation where water could be held or slowly released,
and you have a use for a hydrogel.
Some of the most common examples include nappies, contact lenses and hair gels.
More recently, hydrogels have been adapted to hold medicines,
which can slowly release drugs to patients.
This year's global experiment contains three investigations
you can choose to take part in one all of them.
The first experiment is to find out how much water your hydrogel can hold.
The second is to discover how quickly your hydrogel can hold water,
and if this rate changes.
And the third experiment is open for you to answer,
can you find a way to recover water from your hydrogel?
This experiment can also be used to explore wider issues,
such as disposing of nappies in landfill sites and how this may impact the water cycle.
So the equipment you'll be needing to take part in the experiment
are disposable nappies,
scissors, a ruler,
cloth, towelling or a flannel,
access to water,
measuring jugs or a beaker,
a plastic tray or a Tupperware box to rest your samples on,
and a large one litre bowl.
For experiment two you will also need
empty plastic drinks bottles, two litres in size with a screw cap at the top,
a source of dry granulated hydrogels,
a timer,
and a sheet of paper as a temporary funnel.
In this second investigation,
we are going to look at how quickly a hydrogel can absorb water,
and whether this changes over time.
So, we have left the final investigation open to explore yourself.
You might want to have a look at how different materials affect the hydrogel.
Is it possible to retrieve the water from inside?
As a starting point you could experiment with either sugar, salt or vinegar.
Don't forget to upload your data,
post your pictures, and view the results on our interactive map.
You can find us online by searching 'water - a global experiment with hydrogels'.
And now it's over to you to take part.