Lesson 2 – Preparing to investigate

The aim of an experiment is what we are trying to achieve or discover in an investigation.

In this investigation, you are going to make slime using cornflour to produce something called a non-Newtonian fluid. A non-Newtonian fluid is a substance which has properties of a liquid and a solid. This means it can flow like a liquid, but also can have a set shape. It all depends on the amount of force you apply to it. 

Your goal is to try and determine (figure out) which mixture of ingredients will make the stretchiest slime. There are lots of different recipes to make slime; this one will use cornflour and shampoo. You can choose the different amounts of each you want to compare from these 8 types.

Types of slime you can make

Before we can complete an investigation (conduct our experiment) we need to start a report. The report will include:

• an aim

• your hypothesis

• some pre experiment questions

• the equipment you need

• a risk assessment

• the method

• your results

• a discussion of your results and

• a conclusion.

• Use the following 2 interactives to determine the equipment you will need for this experiment.

• Search around your house for the things you need to make sure you have everything for the next lesson.

(You might need to use something else (substitute) some of the items. If you don't have a digital scale you can use a normal kitchen scale or even different sizes of measuring cups, just make sure you adjust your method and results table to show what you did. If you don't have food colouring you don't need to use it.)

• Complete the Equipment list in your investigation report document to reflect the equipment you will use.

Now you have your equipment list you can start your risk assessment. Add at least one possible hazard related to the equipment you will use to your experiment record document.  

Now you have your method you can think about other hazards. Add at least one possible hazard from the method you will use to your experiment record document.  

Don't forget to hand in the work you completed today!

• Your teacher will have told you to do one of the following: 

  • Upload any digital documents you created and any photos you took of your written work to your Learning Management system (MS Teams, Google Classroom for example).

  • Email any digital documents you created and any photos you took of your written work to your teacher.

Make sure you keep any hand written work you did in your exercise book or folder as your teacher may need to see these when you are back in class.