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Recipe for Color Changing Slime
- 140 g (4 oz) Elmer’s glue. Use the regular Elmer’s school glue. Anything else does not seem to work as well.
- 125 mL (1/2 cup) of water
- 2.75 g (1 teaspoon) borax dissolved in 125 mL (1/2 cup) of water. You may need to microwave the mixture to heat it up and allow everything to dissolve.
- Non-toxic Thermochromic dye. We used this one here.
- Add the 140 g (4 oz) of Elmer’s glue to bowl.
- Mix the 125 mL (1/2 cup) water into the glue. A popsicle stick works well for mixing.
- Mix in the dye. The more dye you add the more intense the color and color change will be. Anywhere from 2 – 5 g will work.
- Slowly add 60 mL (1/4 cup) of the borax solution stirring throughout the process. Be very careful to add the right about of borax. Too much and the slime will be too hard. Too little and it will be too sticky.
What is the Chemistry of the Slime?
What is the Chemistry of the Thermochromic Dye?
Thermochromic dyes are called leuco dyes because they can change between two forms, one of which is colored and one is colorless. Often times, heat can promote the chemical change. This is how thermal paper that is used for store receipts work. For our color changing slime, we want the process to be reversible so we can change colors back and forth. To do this, the dyes are trapped in microcapsules that have liquid inside that melts at when slightly heated. When the liquid melts, the color change can occur. When the temperature lowers, the liquid freezes and color changes back
22 April 2023
