Have you eaten a worm or slug lately? Most chemistry experiments you DO NOT eat, but this one you can if you follow our instructions with the supervision of an adult.
Learn the science of polymers while creating some wiggly worms to eat that can be dangled from your fingers and disappear down your digestive tract.
Materials
– Sodium Alginate powder (Food Grade)
– Calcium, chloride pellets (Food Grade)
– Jelly crystals
– Bowls
– Syringe
Remember:
1) ALL materials used in this experiment MUST be clean.
2) The chemical sused MUST be food grade.
Make the worm solution by adding 5g of Sodium alginate to 100mL of warm water. Make sure to really shake it as the powder does not dissolve very easily. Once made, place in the fridge for 5 hours and then reshake.
Next make the cross-linking solution by adding 20g of Calcium chloride to warm water and shake to dissolve.
Now to flavour the worm solution. Add some Jelly Crystals and shake well to disperse the crystals throughout the liquid.
Add the cross-linking solution to a bowl. We used a container to make the worms easy to see.
Use the syringe to suck up some of the worm solution. Use this to squirt it into the cross-linking solution.
As you squirt the worm solution into the cross-linking solution, a gel forms and traps the liquid inside it. This forms the worms.Â
Before you eat them, rinse the worms in fresh water. Enjoy the slippery worms.
Check out the ‘Wacky Science’ video of this experiment and ‘What’s Going On’ series link. They are currently ‘In Production’, so check back soon…..
This FUN experiment examines the formation of polymers. Specifically, cross-linked polymers. At a basic level think of it like the following;
Monomers are the basic building blocks of polymers. Just like a beaded necklace, the individual beads are like the monomers and when they are joined together in a necklace, a polymer is formed.
In this experiment, the calcium solution links the polyacrylate together to form a gel. The gel forms on the outside and leaves a liquid centre in the worm. A little like soft filled lollies.