Science Investigative Project: Research on the procedure for making the ball

After researching on the different methods to form the polymer ball, I found out that there are mainly 3 different types of methods used to create the ball. The first method involves borax, glue and water, the second using only borax and glue, and the last using borax, glue and cornstarch. I tried out all three methods as my research showed that all 3 methods produce varying results.

The ball made using borax, glue and water was very watery and slimy, and was more of a non-newtonian fluid. It was unable to form a ball and bounce.

The second ball made using only borax and glue was very sticky and was unable to thicken enough to be able to hold its shape properly, thus a ball could not be formed.

The third ball made using borax, glue and cornstarch could be shaped into a ball and could bounce. Research has also shown that cornstarch helps to bind the molecules of the polymer together, allowing it to hold its shape better and giving the ball the property of elasticity.

I thus decided to use the third method for making the polymer ball, narrowing my search on how to make the ball to just this method.

Below is one example of the process of making the polymer ball, taken from the website < http://mistralni.co.uk/articles/?p=254>

What You Will Need:

• Borax

• Cornstarch

• PVA glue

• Warm Water

• Food Colouring

• Measuring Spoons

• Spoon or craft stick to stir the mixture

• 2 small plastic cups or other containers for mixing

• Marking Pen

• zip-lock plastic bag

Instructions

1. Label one cup ‘Borax Solution’ and the other cup ‘Ball Mixture’.

2. Pour 2 tablespoons warm water and 1/2 teaspoon borax powder into the cup labelled ‘Borax Solution’. Stir the mixture to dissolve the borax. Add food colouring.

3. Pour 1 tablespoon of glue into the cup labelled ‘Ball Mixture’. Add 1/2 teaspoon of the borax solution you just made and 1 tablespoon of cornstarch.

4. Allow the ingredients to interact on their own for 10-15 seconds and then stir them together to fully mix. Once the mixture becomes impossible to stir, take it out of the cup and start moulding the ball with your hands.

5. The ball will start out sticky and messy, but will solidify as you knead it.

6. Once the ball is less sticky, go ahead and bounce it.

7. You can store your plastic ball in a sealed zip lock bag when you are finished playing with it.

However, most of the procedures that I found online had measurements that are not very accurate and specific, as can be seen above where teaspoons and tablespoons are used for the different amounts of each material. Thus, based on the online references, I made changes to the procedure as well as the apparatus and materials so that the process would be more accurate.

As the different references described different amounts of borax solution to use, such as 2.5ml of borax solution, 5ml of borax solution, 7.5ml of borax solution, or 10ml of borax solution, I decided to test all these different amounts in my experiment, as well as 12.5ml of borax solution.

I also converted all the teaspoons and tablespoons into proper specific measurements.

1 teaspoon = 5ml

1 tablespoon = 30ml

Below are some of the references I used for the procedure: