Making and testing polymer gel (slime).
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 24 พ.ย. 2019
- This video was inspired by an Unbox therapy video where Lou was featuring a phone case that had polymer gel in the corners to act as a shock absorber.
I recognised the behaviour as similar to that of the common slime project based on PVA glue and borax, and since I had the materials on hand I decided to make some and test it.
Note that I don't actually recommend hitting your hand with a hammer whether you have a protective gel there or not.
The characteristic that matters here is that the gel is non-Newtonian. Is has a very odd characteristic that it will flow like liquid, but immediately go solid when compressed and even crack.
It has a very long history as a kids toy and there are thousands of videos about it on the 'net. This is one of very few that involve a hammer though.
You can buy the materials needed to make this from eBay and other sources. The main thing to do is make sure you get real Borax (Sodium Tetraborate Decahydrate) and the common washable PVA glue. I'd actually recommend you stock up on Borax in case they try to clamp down on it again.
There's a certain irony that after the anti-Borax scaremongering there are slime videos showing the use of "safer" materials which completely lack the inherently preserving nature of boron. The combination of moist gel and organic materials in some of them may actually pose a real health risk to kids playing with it.
I'm not sure how long this stuff will last. I'd guess that the high presence of boron in the gel will make it relatively resistant to mould and bacteria. It does dry out if left in open air, so is best stored in a bag between uses.
If you enjoy these videos you can help support the channel with a dollar for coffee, cookies and random gadgets for disassembly at:-
www.bigclive.com/coffee.htm
This also keeps the channel independent of TH-cam's advertising algorithms allowing it to be a bit more dangerous and naughty. - วิทยาศาสตร์และเทคโนโลยี
Clive gets out a hammer. Bashes fingers. My brain: "At least he's not electrocuting himself this time."
"Eurgh, I've already gooed myself."
-Big Clive, 2019
My daughter went through a mad stage a few years ago of making slime from PVA and Borax (bought by me from ebay). She had hundreds of colours and textures and used to sell it at school (got in trouble for that, much to my disgust, as they had previously had to do a young entrepreneur business thing, exactly what she did). I hate to think how much I spent on glue, but it made her happy, worth every penny.
Good job she didn't find out about Iodine crystals and .880 Ammonia.
The playground sounded like the Somme offensive that dry summer
Oh my brother, just you wait.
She will become a woman and the grief is indescribable.
You'll get over it.
My daughter got into heroin.
@@CarrotConsumer
Get her out of it. She will not live a full life.
But what can you do? It is their choice.
One guy on the heavy stuff said that to me when I told him he didn't have long to live.
I bowed my head and said ' I will miss you',.
I still do.
@@FarleyHillBilly Is that by any chance similar to the reaction of finely divided aluminium powder and finely ground iodine crystals?
Drip in one tiny drop of water any you will find yourself instantly on every watch list int the western hemisphere.
My life goal is to find someone who trusts me like Clive trusts his slime.
My life goal is to find someone who thrusts me slime-- no, wait...
You would be putty in their hands..
@@ironpirate8
silly putty
Unfortunately, some of us have no ability to trust in others at all, with or without the addition of slime. :-)
"My life goal is to find someone who trusts me like Clive trusts his slime."
so... you want to take hammerblows for somebody for fun.
I too regret not having a paper towel handy when I make a mess like that.
hahaha
There's an orange material, patented by a company called D3O, which is used a lot in motorbike armour. It's more or less the same sort of idea; but different materials. The core non-newtonian substance is polyborodimethylsiloxane (which also contains boron, interestingly enough). It's too runny at room temperature, so they mix it with a (closed cell) polyurethane foam, so that theres effectively tiny beads of it encapsulated in the foam. I have seen this as a mobile phone case, although you'd know if it was this stuff because it's bright orange. (The funky stuff is orange, and it's sort of a trade marks of that particular product now). Great stuff as impact armour, much lighter and thinner than anything else for the same protection.
On the types of glues: you touched on polyvinyl alcohol versus polyvinyl acetate; and I think that's the core of why one worked and the other didn't. Polyvinylalcohol is more yellow in colour, polyvinylacetate is more white; so whilst there is a mix of both, they are predominatly PVacetate. I'm led to believe that 'Yellow wood glue', which is much more common in North America than the UK is heavier on the PVAlcohol; but I've never see in the UK so haven't played with it. In manufacture, one _has_ to make PVAcetate, and then remove the acetate groups in order to make PValcohol - using the alcohol monomer results in a whole mess of unintended products as the alcohol group reacts. So the cheapest stuff will probably have less PValcohol; but more PValcohol makes a better glue (as the -OH groups have more hydrogen bonding ability then the -OOCCH3 ones).
The reason I'm mentioning it is that they will respond differently to the boron. I _think_ that the boron will make stronger bonds with PValcohol then PVacetate; partly hydrogen bonding, and possibly some condensation reactions with the boric acid. (Boron chemistry is weird; and outside my experience, hence uncertainty. However, all the polymer places that talk about it mention PValcohol specifically). Therefore different proportions of each will result in different ratios of cross linking, and thus different products.
It's possible to convert PVacetate to PValcohol at home; a straightforward basic hydrolysis in ethanol will do it. If one really wanted to explore what's going on, that's where I'd start, seeing how partial to complete conversion affects the end result.
Sir what do u recommend for makeshift armor? Like knee pads/protections and so
My mum started to work in her bike but we don't have money to buy expensive protections but I have time and patience
actually it's not that good for motorbike protection, saw a guy getting hit for fun with normal solid armor and that gel and the gel hurt more. I'd like to see some tests done with a proper force measuring element behind
Well, I had all the stuff around the house so now I have a ball of slime! Thanks Clive for all you do teach and entertain us. I love it when you "take things to bits", something I have done for years. Your trick to remove hot glue with alcohol came in very handy on a job that I had in the shop yesterday.
4:15 Clive pulls out a notepad and immediately starts drawing a voltage source, because that's what one does with a notepad, before catching himself and turning into something relevant to the topic at hand.
hahahahaha
Things I would never thought I would hear from Clive: "Greetings fellow nurds". Makes me happy
Why did I keep expecting Clive to shove some LEDs in it? At least add some pink food coloring!
I was thinking of brown & shaping it in poo fashion & leaving it for somebody's surprise. LOL!!!!
Or shinny pink glitter ahahahaha
@@DBuilder1977 , Oh yeah that works. LOL!!!
I was waiting for the taste test
@@electronJarvs , Dead on. LOL!!!!
Man you are incredible. I love your enthusiasm and non pretentiousness. I struggle to follow some of your electronic teardowns. But you don't dumb anything down but describe things in great detail.
I don't comment much but watch all your stuff. Keep it up.
And yes I remember that slime
When you get rid of it make sure it has gone, or one dark night Mr Blobby might appear.
Oh no! Not Mr Blobby, Harbinger of Noel Edmonds. If this is true, one must indeed be careful in the disposal.
@@lovfro
I haven't seen Know All Edmonds in a while.
Maybe Blobby put out a hit on him.
I think the last time they wheeled out Mr Blobby was when that costume was already wheezing its last. I'm not sure if anyone will redo or repair that. I'm not sure anyone would want to. Or indeed should want to, by rights.
Mr Blobby voodoo doll
FFS, not Mr. Blobby. Why'd you have to go and give me flashbacks.
FYI if you use less borax it stays more fluid, leaving it way more fun to play with.
This is why your one of my favorites! You always make me smile and the vids are so relaxing! 🤗
As a school science technician, I know slime well (mostly due to the horrendous clean up involved after a class practical or open evening using the stuff).
The main problem with using borax solution to make slime is that it can be an irritant, and kids who make slime want to play with it, which liberally coats their hands with borax (especially if they've used massive quantities like you did - you actually only need a couple of ml). It can also be teratogenic (causes damage to the unborn fetus), but I'd guess that's not a problem for you. It is however not classified as hazardous if used in solutions of 4% w/v or less (which work fine for making slime).
So, most of the hazard is to people like me, who have to make up the solution (or indeed borate buffer solutions) from the solid chemicals.
Oh no, he's fallen down the hole.
That’s what I did my chemistry degree for. Kids love it when you show them this sort of stuff. Borax is safe as. Thanks Clive for another great video 👍💯
- Hey, kids, prepare your fingers and hammers!!
You should do a time lapse of it flowing back together and into a puddle. Also, here in the states you can just get Borax in the grocery store, in the laundry section. One brand is particularly pure, I think the "20 mule team" brand?
Same in Canada. The box here has a young girl on the front. They use to use it preserve milk in England. Look it up
Pull that up Jaime.
@@comm744 Do we bollax
You can get borax pretty much everywhere. It just has to be clearly listed on the label, with a health warning in case of products that might be assimilated (like food and cosmetics).
Sticky, white, translucent. Ofc it's pva and water, what else could it be
uhh...
uhhhhhhhhhhhhh...
uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh......................
Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...
uuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...
If you want it even slimier send it to a Politician.
or add some politician powder into it.
@@Francois_Dupont Can I please be the one with the cattle prod pushing them into the politician desiccating machine?
@@johnsalmons9222 of course!
@@Francois_Dupont :)
@@v5u7sulh2 OR, you might just find electronic parts, aka android or organic robotoid parts, whatever those look like. There is a reason for inhumane choices, they aint human in some way, wink wink-nudge nudge.
@bigclivedotcom, PVA can be either polyvinyl alcohol or polyvinyl acetate in the formulation. Due to lack of free hydroxyl groups, you can't crosslink "wood glue" like you can with polyvinyl alcohol. It will work a tiny bit as there are some free hydroxyls
i used to buy 2kg of borax in a nice vintage box at walmart for 3$. i like it because when you wash your floors or anything like clothing it deposit a very small amount of borax into it and it basically prevent mold from growing or insects from eating it. *also a nice trick for any damp house is to mix some borax into your latex paint, it will not mold after that even painted into a damp moldy concrete basement*
borax is totally safe, its like table salt but of boron instead of sodium. sprinkle some salt into a plant and it will kill it. it is basically when i realized it could be used against mold, since mold is a plant/mushroom.
Your comment about making long strings of molecules reminded me of the old black & white film "The Man in the White Suit" where they made a dirt repellent suit using long-chain molecules.
Must watch that film again.
My 10 year old daughter says your slime is over activated.
Your ten year old sounds like a top lass
Ha ha ha, I love making slimes 👍
Meaning he put too much borax in it?
@@rolfs2165 yeah too much borax, that's why it tears /smashes. For the purposes of smashing your fingers with a hammer though, Clive's may have been better....but from a ten year old slime connoisseur's perspective this was RUINED 😆
Dave Wiltshire not exactly ruined, recoverable via a little warm water, or even some moisturiser or shaving cream probably 👍🏼
For some more technical details:
The main component of PVA glue is polyvinyl acetate (PVAc for clarity), and not polyvinyl alcohol(PVAOH). However Clive is correct that this effect is caused by polyvinyl alcohol.
PVA glue is made up of loads of tiny droplets of PVAc suspended in water. To stop them colliding and merging together (and thus solidifying the glue in the bottle) certain amounts of PVAOH are added to stop them merging.
The precise amount of PVAOH is likely to vary from glue to glue, PVAOH is vastly more soluble in water than PVAc so I'm guessing the 'washable' kids glue has more PVAOH to help it wash off better.
There are also some other complications such as the various chain lengths of the polymer in question, but also the fact that the individual VAc units in the PVAc react slowly with water to form a VOH unit plus vinegar (hence the slight vinegary smell of PVA glue)
Similarly with the added PVAOH, which still has some VAc units in it as well.
This ends up degrading the glue on contact with water, so more expensive glue use higher quality version that degrade less.
Also, higher cost glue often add some other compounds that crosslink the glue molecules and thus increase their water resistance.
The "yellow" version of PVA does this, however, the yellow color appears to be a dye used to differentiate it from the regular version, and serves no actual functional purpose XD.
You can buy pure PVAOH without the other complications, and the added benefit of not making your hands smell like PVA glue when you touch it (vinegar). They come as little granules that you dissolve in water.
It might be interesting to do that and see if the resulting putty was a better quality than the one made with glue?
They have made Borax/Boric acid quite hard to get hold of in the UK due to possible health effects but strangely it's still allowed and used in a lot of contact lense cleaning solutions - for something you stick in your eyes :-/
Funny, interesting, and informative.
Great video dude!
Science with Clive - as entertaining as ever!!
Boric acid doesn't work because the cross-linking only happens in alkaline conditions. Borax is a sodium salt of boric acid: roughly speaking, the sodium is more alkaline than the borate is acidic, so the compound is alkaline.
But you can dissolve boric acid in methanol (which is toxic) and it burns with a very, very green flame. Just in case you bought it by mistake and were wondering what to do with it :-p
I seem to remember making a non-Newtonian liquid with custard powder. This was back in the 60s and we put the powder in a bowl and added water in small quantities. At a certain point the thick smooth paste could be easily stirred, but if you hit it with the spoon it would go hard. I'm sure I've seen a video where someone did this in a swimming pool, and then ran across it.
Blue Peter in the 70s was broadcast live. Sometimes an experiment or make was pre-recorded and played back as a VT insert. Location was always on 16mm film and also played back as in insert. the running order was always arranged so that while an insert was playing the studio could be re-arranged.
The custard in the bath thing was done on Brainiacs TV show. Think it was Jon Tickle doing the piece.
"Here's one I did earlier"... and now, the sticky back plastic, lol
For thos of you that wondered - Borax (is the washing detergent in the US) is also known as Sodium tetra-borate decahydrate
Aw wow! I was making this stuff last Sunday with a friend who is a chemistry teacher.
Added poster paint and glitter for shits and giggles - great fun!
I love this channel.
The impression of nurdrage was great!
In the US a simple suspension of cornstarch in water, called "oobleck" after Dr. Seuss book "Bartholomew and the Oobleck", is easy to make and really fun to play with. For example, you can walk on a large tub of oobleck without sinking due to its shear thickening properties, as long as you step firmly enough to cause thickening, but if you stand still, you rapidly sink. A safer demonstration than your hammer-hand example :)
You are a brave, brave man.
I use 20 Mule Team Borax in my laundry soap recipe. Get it at the Publix down the road.
EngelsCoachShop?
Thanks Clive, a really interesting diversion. But now nothing surprises me as to what you get up to. Stanley X Ray tool, I had one too but think that the battery is dead now it just opens things. Thanks again.
Blue Peter confused the hell out of me whenever they used double-sided sticky tape as a methamphetamine substitute
....what?
This might make a good component of crash helmets.
I think the corn flour one is better, it is really runny but when struck with a hammer it really solidifies then runs again within seconds. I think it was Blue Peter or a program called How that I first seen this 😆. I always play with this mix while I'm making a thickening agent for broth lol.
Fun fact, we foster lots and lots of dogs at our home, (while they're waiting on their forever home...) when they come in and have fleas we give them a bath and sprinkle borax all around their bedding. The borax is fatal to fleas and their little ones gobble it up thinking its skin flakes (or something like that ;-) All I know is it does a fine job killing fleas!!! And its available at our local grocery store in the detergent isle :-) At least here in western NC...
Great video big Clive nice experiment
Sends shivers down the spine of all sofas everywhere!
Very interesting and wacky experiment.
I have heard of this but never tried it. I did this right after watching your video,Including the hammer thing. It works Im surprised the car makers haven't made a high-tech bumper with this kids toy. More fun than corn starch and water.
The car makers much prefer a bumper that shatters into expensive fragments on the slightest nudge.
Cool video, I've actually ben to Boron California, they mine the boron there. In the middle of the desert, it was about if I remember right an hour from apple valley (where I lived at the time). Basically a mining camp with a gas station, at the time. 28 years ago anyway.
also for ants that are eating an old house. make a 2% paste of sugar and borax powder. (2% borax, 98% sugar+a little water) deposit little station everywhere like beer bottle caps upside down with the paste inside. the eat will eat the sugar/borax paste and distribute it to the whole colony. they will all die a couple of days later because the borax deactivate somethings into them rendering them unable to digest things anymore.
also the DM50 of borax is like 20grams/kg, so its quite safe for wondering animals.
My daughter is a slime expert! I never realised just how many slimes there are!
Fluffy slime
Butter slime
Cloud slime
Crunchy slime
Floam
Clear slime which is awesome! That’s using a clear glue it’s honestly fascinating just how involved it is.
Blue Peter's still going, making it the longest-running children's TV show in the world (first broadcast in back in October 1958). It's down to one live show a week now though (Thursdays at 17:30 on the CBBC channel).
"One I've prepared earlier" is also a staple of cooking shows with a studio audience. If you don't have a studio audience, then you don't need to do that because you can just cut to when it's ready.
Unless preparing it saves enough salaries by not having the camera, sound and recording crews on set for the full duration.
Isn't "slime" one the the child friendly trigger words under COPPA that will get you in trouble ?
I think he's fucking with the algorithm
Whats coppa sir?
Yes Michelle...I too make slime everyday and on drying, crumbles off the sheets 😁
Still easy to get Borax here in the US in laundry aisles, thankfully. The stories involving boric acid destroying kids' hands sound extremely silly, considering how borax is still used in old-fashioned commercial hand soap dispensers here, too. (Usually schools, parks, or gas stations)
Another interesting experiment would be to neutralise ferric chloride which is nasty stuff
Quarter fill a jug with washing soda (sodium carbonate)
Add boiling water a bit at a time, stirring, we want to end up with a few crystals left at the bottom
Let it cool off, we now have a saturated solution
Cut the top off a 2.5 L bleach container, add ferrric chloride, stir in soda solution, stirring
When you've added enough soda, the solution goes white/pale green. Add a bit more soda
I'm guessing the reaction forms sodium chloride and some sort of iron and copper carbonates (insoluble). After a few days the iron stuff will fall out and turn reddish brown, like rust
I'm not sure it is as easy as adding iron filings but the magnet slimes (also called magnetic putty) are a lot of fun to watch them eat a magnet.
When someone shouts.... Wheres the stanley x-ray unit ill know what they want
I expect it to have glitters and different colours on the next video
I added some super-fine mica glitter to some and it turned beige and leaves your hands covered in glitter when you handle it.
@@bigclivedotcom so perfect to send to friends.
@@bigclivedotcom Would some of that super UV powder work?
Clive u r fantastic !! you are yet a chemistritian awesome man !
Borax in water is also useful for fast setting superglue. If you mix it with sugar it also makes a great ant and cockroach killer.
Here in Indiana, we make oobleck. It's corn starch and water. It's also an interesting NNF
I use Borax for a brazing flux. It's great stuff.
Do you think other brands of X-RAY devices will be compatible?
Cornstarch and water exhibits the non-Newtonian effect nicely. And it's edible. It is liquid until you hit it hard enough. Mythbusters has an episode where they run across a tub of it. When they stop, they sink in .
My daughter is obsessed with making slime, so I have made quite a lot along with her over the last couple of years. Many contact lens solutions contain borax and work well. You have to check the ingredient list and my experience is the cheaper store brands with borax usually work better than the more expensive brands with borax. In particular I have had great success with Walmart's store brand contact solution.
Blue Peter was transmitted live, that's why they needed items prepared earlier. If it was recorded then they could have just stopped recording until later then continue. It's also why we have the classic Blue Peter mistakes like the elephant shitting in the studio during the show 😆
I remember making this stuff in 4th grade.
The other thing I remember from 4th grade was the same science teacher trying to heat a material in a mug over a camping stove... the mug exploded.
“This is force that could cause finger injury” is what I said to my wife last night
We used to be able to buy 20 Mule team borax as a washing aid and a hand cleaner. I see it listed on Amazon but not sure what it is now. They used to sponsor a TV show called "Death Valley Days" hosted by an actor and future president, Ronald Reagan. We had a similar science show called "Watch Mr. Wizard" starring Don Herbert. He showed you "The science and magic in everyday things." Many of the experiments would be banned now as too dangerous for young kids.
Clive try adding shaving foam to it as you are mixing it together, it really produces a cool kind of slime or the other ingredient is coco butter ( palmers is good )
We used borax to dry flowers and to preserve bugs for collections. Dead turtle shells for making ceremonial rattles ect. Love your content. I wonder have you been flying your drone lately remember if your not crashing your not flying.
My new bike clothing has D30 armour which I guess is similar but holds its shape,we had a sample of it and the guys used to do the same demo put it back in the tiny square box and soon after it filled ever corner of the box amazing stuff
this gel could be very very interesting to put inside body armor or other protective gear as well as to make impact resistant things - thats awesome!
Already been done many years ago. Lookup D30.
Borax is banned as an additive in industries that aren't forced to disclose all their additives on the packaging, namely cosmetics. It can still be included in products as long as they carry an explicit health warning (most manufacturers prefer to remove borax, so they don't have to include that warning), and you should still be able to buy raw borax (labelled as such) pretty much anywhere.
Thanks for the recipe Clive, I know what we're having for dinner tonight.
I remember at one point the trending videos were full of kids making slime videos, I guess it was the fidget spinner replacement for the few months that these popular kids trends tend to last
In the US Borax is easy to find in most grocery stores in the laundry isle. 20 Mule Team Borax. Sold as a Laundry Booster.
Blue Peter was live and thats why they had ones they had already made to save time and to help stop things going wrong.
Borax has several uses, two that I use it for are to get rid of ants but the main use Is as a flux when blacksmithing and when smelting
Great vid, Clive. BTW, how are the bottles of glitter wine?
Borax - Good for making your own soldering flux. 👍
I had a teacher in high school that still loves making slime with with his classes each year. Well as a joke I sent him in two tubs of the edible slime jello mix and had him play it as if was the regular slime made with borax. He then tried getting them to eat the edible creation. Almost all of his classes were scared of it even after he told them what it actually was.
Hey Clive! Want another experiment? Silicon caulking and corn starch. I suggest a variant to it: 50/50 corn starch and baking soda (sodium bicarbonate).
The caulking need to be the vinegar smelling type (GE Silicon I for example). That one is water activated. The corn starch contain enought moisture to activate it.
Alternativelly, adding baking soda make it react faster and absorb a big part of the smell, by converting the acid produced into water and salt, hence why it speed it up, and why it "absorb" the smell.
Take note: do that in a well ventilated area due to the very very strong vinegar smell.
i wonder if you could use that stuff for impact resistant gloves kinda like steel toe boots
This is Amazing! I wonder if there’s a way to make it retain a more consistent shape, or be able to automatically return to its initial state. Again, awesome video!
This stuff tends to flow. It would need contained in a shaped cover.
Probanly a similar substance to what some motorcycle leathers have sewn into them to soak up impact. Try mixing cornflour and bicarb into it and you'll have an impact resistant starlite.
I love how only the "super safe" kids glue works to make this scientific monstrosity. and I think the glue one was called flubber over here while the cornstarch one was slime. :P
also pulling out one you prepared earlier it's exclusive to kids show crafts, pretty sure it originated with cooking shows.
The ordinary white school glue in the US at least used to be milk casein base, from what I'd been told. No mention of PVA.
You're thinking of school paste. Elmer's glue and Elmer's School Glue= PVA.
It’s a non-Newtonian fluid. Can be done with corn starch and water alone.
Cooking with Clive!! love it :)
In the US if you walk into any craft store or like 5 Below they have displays with gallon jugs of white glue and boxes of 20 Mule Team Borax. Maybe also some glitter.
I saw some body armour that works on the same principal as that stuff, they demonstrated its effectiveness by hitting the bloke wearing it with a baseball bat.
Clives cold house made that slime so hard....
Please, please do a time-lapse video of the slime flowing back together in the bag or one where it's spreading out on a surface or large plate!
Also once it starts to turn the best thing is to just get your hands in there and play with it and knead it like dough and it will turn quicker.
Next week Clive starts his slime ASMR channel
IMPACT GEL - Oh man - Perfect use for Combat hardsuit's - Protective Construction gear - Motorcycle helmets, and etc...
Always wondered if Poundland's Wood Glue is good industrial grade or kiddie crap- now we know how to find out!