ACS Slime Demo


	Join the American Chemical Society at the Illinois State Fair, August 12-21, 2005, Springfield, Illinois

Slime

	This is the recipe for the Slime demonstrated at the State Fair. It is made with polyvinyl alcohol, an non-toxic substance, but a substance not readily available to the public. "Gack" is a similar material made with everyday household materials, and its recipe also appears in this section of the CD.
Slime illuminated from behind with an incandesent bulb.		Slime illuminated from the front by the UV-rich flash on a camera.

Chemicals:

400 mL 4% Polyvinyl alcohol
60 mL water
60 mL 4% sodium borate solution
0.2 g Fluorescein indicator dye
0.05 g Bromphenol blue indicator dye

Most of these chemicals may be purchased through scientific supply houses, such as Flinn Scientific, or Sargent-Welch.

Materials:

A large plastic measuring cup of at least 500 mL capacity.
Measuring devices to measure the appropriate amounts of each chemical.
A heavy-duty stick, rod, or spoon to stir the mixture.
The top half of a 2-liter soda pop bottle
A ring stand and ring to support the inverted half soda pop bottle.

Procedure:

Measure out 400 mL of polyvinyl alcohol in the large measuring cup.
Dissolve both indicators in the 60 mL of water.
Add the water mixture to the polyvinyl alcohol and stir well.
Slowly add the sodium borate solution to the mixture while stirring well, until all the sodium borate is well mixed into the polyvinyl alcohol. The resulting mixture should be very viscous and flow slowly, but uniform.
Pour the mixture into the open cut end of the inverted soda pop bottle.

The Slime should slowly flow through the bottle and come out of the open threaded end of the bottle over a period of many minutes. You can adjust the viscosity of the Slime by adding more or less than the specified 60 mL of water as you make the Slime. Slime is a non-Newtonian fluid.

The Slime should appear dull green in daylight or in the presence of ultraviolet light from a UV lamp. It should appear deep red-orange when viewed by the light of an incandescent lamp from behind. Fluorescein fluoresces at 470 nm, in the near ultraviolet.

Warning: The ingredients used to make this Slime are believed to be non-toxic, but as with any chemicals, extreme care must be used in handling and manipulating them.

Created by Milt Levenberg