Polymer Lab Group Investigation

In this experiment, my group had divided into smaller subgroups consisting of Connor and I, and Hannah and Hattie. Connor and I had worked on putting the sodium silicate and borax together (not mixing it), and H+H worked on adding glue with water and food coloring. We eventually mixed it all together and came up with a surprising creation. First of all, my hypothesis was that when everything was mixed together, it would form a super "rubber bouncy ball" type of thing. It would bounce high up, and it would be very large, colored with a reddish hue from food coloring. I thought that because the sodium silicate + ethanol lab resulted in a hard, rocky ball that needed water. The glue + borax solution resulted in a soft, moist, soft ball. Both were white in color, and they could both be used with each other. If they were combined with a little more and less of certain things, it would make a moldable but solidified ball. I was trying to find out what would happen when everything that is switch around is mixed, and what it would look and feel like. The materials that were needed varied greatly from both of the separate tests. Instead of previous amounts needed for the tests, there are different proportions used and needed. First of all, we used 60 mL of glue, and 20 mL of ethanol. Also, we used a graduated cylinder, 5 teaspoons of borax, a 500 mL beaker, a 200 mL beaker, and a 140 mL. We used a small "bottle" of food coloring, a stirring rod, 60 mL of water, and lastly, 13 mL of sodium silicate. We mixed the sodium silicate with borax and the glue with ethanol and food coloring, and eventually ended up with a yolk-like, salty textured, scrambled egg like substance. (Image 1)

1. 

When the glue and water mixed with the food coloring, it became a gooey, sticky, moist, egg yolk-like substance as seen in the above image. Actually, when everything was mixed together, it was too moist and was a very liquid-like solid. I had thought to add 2 teaspoons of borax and my group agreed, so when I did that, it cause the salty texture and the scrambled egg look and feel to it. During the room temperature rebound test with the "blob", it fell straight to the table when it was dropped from 30 cm. During the chilled blob test, it fell from 30 cm with a rebound of only about 2 cm. Lastly, during the extremely chilled/ slightly frozen rebound test, the blob actually bounced back up to 6 cm, showing that the colder the temperature of the blob is, the more compact it becomes and the higher it can bounce.

Frozen/ Chilled Blob Test Example (the line is the path it takes):

In conclusion, my hypothesis was wrong on three accords. First of all, it is wrong because I thought the mixture would be a gigantic, semi-hardened ball rather than a large, egg-like substance that lacks bounce. Secondly, it is too hard to actually mold and combine into a single body. Lastly, my hypothesis was wrong due to the coloration. I thought that the ball would be a reddish hue, but instead, it was a yellow color.