Creative Chemistry

Eli Whitney Museum

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2018 Summer Program

Slime is happening. This is its golden age. But it is not new. Slime is a grandchild of Silly Putty, another long polymer compound discovered in New Haven exactly 75 years ago in in a failed experiment. The Chemist James Wright was looking for a substitute for rubber because World War II had disrupted the supply. Wright concocted a gooey mess. Disappointed, he threw a glob of it on the floor. It bounced back at him. A new kind of play was born.

Join a week of disciplined experiment, careful observations and gooey play. We have counted nearly 100 recipes and applications for slime. All of them begin with simple, safe materials. Make classic slime, crunchy slime, glitter slime, magnetic slime....to mention a few. Extrude slime, inflate slime, stamp slime, and walk on slime. The creative variation is mind boggling. Keeping a journal with measurements and observations will organize your experiments. There will be disappointments to be sure. Remember James Wright – success is bouncing back from failure. By the end of the week you will have added to slime art and culture and you will recognize the properties of Non-Newtonian fluids.


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