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On The Nature Of Slime: Molecular Engineering

Posted by timothy on from the there's-some-slime-in-my-apartment dept.

Effugas writes: "New Scientist is running a surprisingly readable series about the nature of slime made from polymer chains. Far more fascinating set of articles than I would have expected; for all the theoretical talk of grey goo and nanotech robotics, chemists really are the ones doing the largest scale engineering on the smallest of scales. I especially enjoyed the article about the hagfish, which can when under duress turn the five gallons of water around it into utterly impenetrable sludge -- instantaneously." The article also has a great do-it-yerself recipe for some bouncy homemade slime.

5 of 35 comments (clear)

  1. article is incomplete by scrytch · · Score: 3

    What poor and haphazard research ... an article about slime and there's no mention of the RIAA, the American Bar Association, or the Direct Marketing Association?

    --
    I've finally had it: until slashdot gets article moderation, I am not coming back.
  2. Gack! by the+eric+conspiracy · · Score: 3

    The company I used to work for was the manufacturer of Gack! for Mattel. This stuff is made from guar, a natural polymer derived from a plant grown mostly in India using pretty much the same recipie as that for PVA slime outlined in the New Scientist article.

    Many of these natural polymeric thickeners are used in food to improve the way it feels in your mouth. Prime places are in salad dressings, ice cream, doughnut fillings, etc.

    Calling this stuff nanotechnology is a bit of a misnomer, though. The chemical structures of these most of these polymers are quite random, it is only on a statistical basis that you control their bulk properties. In nanotechnology you are trying to control the structure at a much deeper level.

    Other areas of chemistry, such as self-assembly of surfactant films are where the real work that is forwarding nanotechnology is being done.

  3. Pictures of hagfish slime! by psychonaut · · Score: 3

    If anyone is interested in reading more about hagfish and seeing pictures of their slimy defence mechanism, check out this page: http://oceanlink.island.net/oinfo/hagfish/hagfish. html


    Regards,

  4. Haiku by 575 · · Score: 4

    Welcome to Slashdot
    News for nerds: Stuff that matters,
    Recipes for snot!

  5. Easier Recipes and Fun stuff by LauraLolly · · Score: 3
    Although glue and borax make good bouncy slime, borax and Polyvinyl Alcohol make even better slime. The best consumer product containing polyvinlyl alcohol is laundry blueing - Mrs. Smith's bluing works great in the states.
    Other Excellent recipes for slime exist and are not hard to find.
    • Glue and PVA also work well.
    • Another fun slime is made from 5 parts cornstarch to 1-2 parts water, by volume. This one is very slimy, but becomes rigid under abrupt pressure.
    • From a chemistry teacher's standpoint, even hard-wheat flour (bread flour) is great stuff. Take bread flour, add water, and stir. Watch the lovely gluten threads intermingle as the starch becomes slimy. Add more water for more slime, or keep stirring for more gluten and bounce.

    There have been some cool articles on polymers and slimes at Science News and ACS, but that hagfish was news to me. Oooooh!