On Tuesday, 24 September students attending Science Club engaged in a hands-on experiment making ‘slime’ by mixing PVA glue with borax. When students mixed the PVA (polyvinyl acetate) glue with borax (sodium borate), they witnessed first-hand the creation of cross-linking bonds. This process causes the glue to clump up and form a putty-like substance, commonly known as ‘slime’. Such experiments help students understand complex concepts like chemical reactions and polymerization (a process in which relatively small molecules, called monomers, combine chemically to produce a very large chainlike or network molecule, called a polymer) in a tangible and memorable way.

The club is important for students, as well as being fun it also has several key benefits including giving them a practical understanding of scientific concepts and encouraging their curiosity and inquiry as well as developing their critical thinking and problem-solving skills.