Ingredients:
1 cup of water
1 cup of white glue (8 floz)
then...
1/2 cup of water
1 teaspoon of borax powder hand soap.
Optional- Food coloring
What to do
1. Make sodium borate by adding 1 tablespoon of 20 Mule Teamรค Borax powder to 1 cup warm water. Stir until all of the powder has dissolved.
2. In a separate container, mix 2 tablespoons glue and 2 tablespoons water. Stir well. (Optional: Add 3 drops of food coloring to the glue/water mixture and stir.)
3. Add 1 tablespoon of the sodium borate to the glue/water mixture.
4. Stir and let sit in the cup for a few minutes.
5. Take it out and play with it!
6. Remember to always store in a clearly marked, sealed bag in the refrigerator.
What we did was everyone set up their stations and then one by one each kindergarten class came in and then two would come to our station and then two kindergarteners would come to our station, we would do the experiment with them and then two new kindergartners would come. Some facts about GAK are that white glue contains millions of long strands of molecules that are like a chain. The chains are able to slip and slide easily and freely over one another, it is like freshly cooked spaghetti. Even tough they can slip around the chains are very long that they interfere with each other and that causes the glue to be thick and dense. Borax, when that is added to the glue two things happen. Number 1, the borax links and brings together the long strands of glue together, it is called cross linking, and number 2, cross linking creates a net-like structure and that is what makes the GAK behave like a solid, but the net like structure also traps the water in between the strands and that trapped water is what makes the GAK behave like a liquid. That concludes that GAK acts like a solid and a liquid. Also if you deiced to make GAK some things that will make it last longer are washing your hands every time before using it, and and when you are not using it to put it in a refrigerator. WARNING: do NOT eat GAK, if you get medical help immediately! Do not throw it in a toilet, do not put on fabric, wood, or vinyl, it may damage them.·What Else you can do
What happens if you change the amount of sodium borate? What happens to the Gak?
· What if you change the amount of glue? What happens to the properties of the Gak?
· What if you use more or less water? What happens to the properties of the Gak?
· Use coins or small objects to make imprints in the Gak. Do these imprints last?
· What happens to Gak in the refrigerator? What happens if you freeze it?