PVA Slime lab

Polyvinyl acetate (PVA) glue, also known as white glue, school glue, or wood glue, is a type of adhesive that is commonly used in woodworking, paper crafts, and other applications. PVA glue is made by polymerizing vinyl acetate monomer into long chains of polyvinyl acetate molecules.

This experiment demonstrates the ability of borax to form chemical cross-links between molecules of the PVA polymer. The chemical structures below show a molecule of the PVA polymer on the left and a molecule of borax (borate ion) on the right.

As you pull the slime apart slowly, the long chains of molecules within the slime become aligned and stretched, which gives it its characteristic elasticity. The slime stretches because the molecules slide past each other and align in the direction of the force being applied, but they remain connected to each other by weak intermolecular forces (hydrogen bonds). As you continue to stretch the slime, these forces eventually become too weak to hold the molecules together, and the slime breaks apart.

A non-Newtonian fluid is a type of fluid whose viscosity or resistance to flow is not constant, but varies with the applied force or rate of deformation. This means that the fluid can behave in unexpected ways and exhibit unusual properties that are not observed in normal fluids.