![]() Plop the dark slime on a smooth tabletop and place the magnet close to it. The glue solution will turn a very dark gray color. Add the borax solution and mix the ingredients with your hands. It may take some effort to stir it in completely because it’s such fine powder. Completely stir about one tablespoon of iron oxide powder into the glue solution before adding the borax solution. The change is to use iron oxide powder instead of iron filings when making your slime. Believe it or not, Magnetic Slime is a great model to explain a method to fight cancer: immunotherapy! With a simple change to the slime you made, you can see the cancer-fighting model in action. Like scientists around the world, City of Hope ® researchers use models to better understand what they’re working with and to help explain a process or result. So much is happening in such a small space! It’s the combination of magnetism pulling one way and adhesion and cohesion pulling the other that results in the weird, stretchy “volcanoes” appearing when you hover the magnet near the slime. That’s a force that holds molecules of the same substance together. In addition to adhesion, the slime polymer is bonded by cohesion. Adhesion is a force that holds molecules of different substances together. The slime holds onto the iron filings by adhesion. The magnet is very strong but something prevents the iron filings from leaving the slime and clinging to the magnet. Sodium tetraborate is the chemical in borax that hooked the polymers in the glue together to form the putty-like material. If the molecules stick together at a few places along the strand, then the strands are connected to each other and the substance behaves more like a solid. ![]() Now when you reach in to grab one strand, you grab hundreds because the magnets have linked the strands together. Let’s say you toss a few trillion tiny, round magnets into the pile of steel chains. The strands flow over each other like the liquid glue in the bowl. If you dump them on the floor, they’re not connected to each other so they spread out everywhere like water. When the chains are in a pile and you reach in to grab one, that’s what you get: one. Each link in a chain is a molecule in the polymer and one link is identical to another. You can use the image of tiny steel chains to understand why this polymer behaves the way it does. In simplest terms, a polymer is a long chain of identical, repeating molecules. The glue is actually made of a polymer material. The solution of school glue with borax and water produces a putty-like material that’s elastic and flows very slowly. Iron is one of three elements (cobalt – Co, iron – Fe, and nickel – Ni) that are magnetic at room temperature. The iron filings cause this slime to be magnetic. When you’ve made all the discoveries you want with it, you can toss it – bag and all – in the trash. If the slime is clean (because you made it with clean hands) then store it in the zipper-lock bag in the fridge. Use the magnet to build miniature volcanoes in the slime. The slime is stretchy but it doesn’t want to move easily out of place. Lay the putty-like mass on the plate and flatten the goo so it has a smooth surface.īring the magnet close to the surface of the flattened slime and watch the slime spring upward and grab it. When the chemistry has done its job, you’ll be holding a large blob of a familiar looking toy. It may take a few minutes to get all of it to mix but it will come together. There’s no point loading your new slime with dirt from your hands. It’s a totally safe combination so use your fingers but be sure to wash your hands with soap first. Mix the glue and borax solutions together completely. Be sure the borax dissolves completely.Īdd the borax solution to the glue solution in the bowl. Measure a 1/ 2 cup (118 ml) of warm water and pour it into the plastic cup.Īdd 1 teaspoon of borax powder to the water in the cup and stir the solution. Stir the new mixture thoroughly with a spoon. Pour the water and glue solution into the bowl.Īdd a generous amount of iron filings to the water and glue mixture. ![]() Borax (laundry section of a grocery store)Įmpty the entire bottle of white school glue into the large mixing bowl.įill the empty bottle nearly full with water, cap it, and shake it up to recover all the glue.
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