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What is slime and why are we so obsessed? // Brains On! Science Podcast For Kids | Brains On! Universe | YouTubeToText
YouTube Transcript: What is slime and why are we so obsessed? // Brains On! Science Podcast For Kids
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This content explains the science behind making slime, detailing how common ingredients like glue and laundry detergent interact to create its unique texture, and explores why slime is a "non-Newtonian fluid" that behaves differently under stress. It also delves into the psychological reasons behind slime's popularity, particularly its connection to ASMR.
you're listening to brains on from
American public media we're serious
about being curious I'm Molly bloom
there's an interesting trend happening
right now in kitchens at schools and all
over YouTube kids everywhere are making
homemade slime that stretchy you'll eat
Slurpee stuff to make it you just need a
few simple things like laundry detergent
and Elmer's glue in fact we've got a
video showing you one recipe at brains on.org
on.org
maybe you already know about this stuff
or maybe you don't but a lot of our
listeners are way into it well slime is
sticky stretchy imagine taffy but you
can play with it and it's much more
stretchy it's like how is it not so cool
to watch it gets spread across and I
like turning it over and over it looks
so cool and and you can add like
different colors and sparkles to it it's
really fun to play with that's Ashley
from Burke Virginia Charlie from
Rockville Maryland Ava from Los Angeles
California and Irene from Minneapolis
Minnesota and they are slime obsessed
today on brains on we are also slime
obsessed what is it and why do we like
touching and poking and squeezing it
let's find out today's episode was
inspired by this question hi my name is
Eva I'm 11 years old from Los Angeles
California I love to make slime my
question for brains on is how does
sticky glue becomes slime when you add
laundry detergent yeah what is happening
when you make slime ah this is a great
question to help us find an answer we
called up Rachele Burks she's an
assistant professor of chemistry at st.
Edwards University in Austin Texas I
have a PhD in chemistry and a master's
in forensic science and a bachelor's in
chemistry so I'm a big door
right there with you Rachel she told us
the magic starts when you add something
called sodium borate to water in laundry
detergent these are already mixed but
some slime makers do it themselves and
when you add that compound sodium borate
into water it makes an anion which is a
negatively charged compound
so remember molecules those tiny atomic
structures that make up well pretty much everything
everything
sometimes they interact with other
molecules to become a new compound
sometimes that compound is either
positively charged or negatively charged
it has to do with how many tiny
particles called electrons the compound
ends up with when water and borate form
a new compound that compound has a
negative charge
it also takes on a special shape I like
to describe it it is if you looked at
your hand you can turn it into a bit of
a cloth so you could grab stuff right
and that's what this ion does next this
grabby ion meets the glue and starts
grabbing glue is made up of something
called polymers these are just strings
of molecules bonded together rochelle
says you can think of a polymer like a
long rubbery spaghetti noodle
and so when glue is just glue it's just
a bunch of loose spaghetti noodles all
sliding past each other but once you add
in the borate compound you've added in a
bunch of claws and what that does is one
claw grabs one sticky glue polymer got
you another claw grabs another one and
that means that now two polymer strands
are actually connected through these
kind of a claw bridge I think I can't
get away that means that the polymers
can no longer be slippy and sliding past
each other they're actually connected
this happens all over the glue with all
of that boring and so it goes from being
little slippy slide a spaghetti noodles
to being like speck
the next day when it's left over and you
stick a fork in it and you pull it up
and it's one giant massive connected
dried-out spaghetti noodles that is what
is happening here
so borate is actually connecting these
polymer spaghetti noodles and clumping
them all together and giving us what we
call slime of course unlike a clump of
spaghetti you can't see the individual
polymer strands and slimes since they're
so small but it's this interaction
happening on the microscopic level that
gives slime its texture so now we have
slime which brings us to our next
question my question is what state of
matter is slime
solid or liquid it is what we like to
call it's got a really cool name after
Isaac Newton it's a non-newtonian fluid
non-newtonian to understand this let's
start with regular old Newtonian fluids
17th century scientist Isaac Newton
thought how well a liquid flows depends
on how warm or cold it is let it be
known the warmer the fluid the smoother
the flow the cooler the fluid that flow
be slow Newton out this characteristic
how thick or runny a liquid is is called
viscosity you can easily see this in
lots of common liquids like honey cold
honey is really gooey and thick but heat
it up and it's more slippery and more
runny so that is actually called a
Newtonian fluid when temperature affects
kind of how easily it moves well there
are these what are called non-newtonian
fluids where it's not just temperature
that affects them it can be like a force
like a shearing force like you pulling
on it or you poking at it
Rochelle Burke says for these
non-newtonian fluids pressure and force
actually change how runny they are how
they respond to the stress is different
so if you take slime and you can't get
really fast with a really high force you
can snap it right into like like
breaking a pencil run ain't like if you
just snap the solid but if you
took the same slime and you just applied
the same force but over a longer time
not that sharp application of force the
slime would just stretch like a big
piece of taffy candy so just how we
treat it gives us kind of different
properties that we're seeing sometimes
it acts like the liquid or like the
thick like a honey very viscous but
still all in one piece and sometimes we
apply a force and it snaps like we would
expect from a solid think of water it's
a classic Newtonian fluid if you throw
it against a wall well it splashes
everywhere that force doesn't change how
it behaves but if you threw slime
against a wall it would smack almost
like a solid but if you poured Syme
slowly into a bowl it would flow more
like a thick liquid that's classic
non-newtonian fluid behavior
Rochelle says slime isn't the only
non-newtonian fluid out there there are
others like quicksand or silly putty or
even something you might have in your
refrigerator a food item that's also a
non-newtonian fluid is ketchup it fits
in the bottle anyone's ever wrestled
with a ketchup bottle you know that it
can be a bear to get out of the bottle
but once you give it the right amount of
force it just moves straight out of the
bottle so it has some really interesting
properties when you apply just the right
force in just the right way so slime
this cool non-newtonian fluid happens
when 4/8 water and glue mix you can get
the borate lots of ways like using
laundry detergent or contact solution
some recipes call for borax which is
used as a cleaning product now an
important safety note this borax stuff
can sometimes irritate the skin so be
very careful if you decide to use it
check with your parents first don't rub
your eyes or face while playing with
slime and wash your hands when you're
done if you'd rather skip the borax
there are lots of recipes without it
online have your parents help you find
one and get creative add food coloring
or glitter while you're researching your
slime let's make slime try to make some slime
slime
let's make slime it's about as fun as
compete first let me tell you all the
stuff you'll need you'll need a big bowl
and a bottle of glue white clear or
glitter glue it's up to you you need
baking soda not baking powder so double
check it before you get started some eye
drops or contact solution a spatula or
something to mix now let's get to it
make slime yeah let's make slime now
open the tool and pour it all into the
bowl it's real sticky so don't lose
control now open the eye drops or
contact stuff put in a few drops taking
slope there's no rush I can do drip ten
drops of soap start mixing it in start
mixing it in okay
baking soda how much you need you never
know so start with a little and stir it
in as you go a few more eye drops a
little more baking soda in no time you
got slime now mix it up mix it up mix it
up mix it up yeah now pick it up pick it
up squish these in you're free good
mix it up yeah let's make slime yeah my
slime so cool my slime is so fun my
slime so weird man it blows my mind when
you're all done making the plan with
your slobs in a sandwich bag save it for
next time slime that song and slime
recipe comes from Steph Alexander a
rapper with the Doomtree collective he's
also a father and slime aficionado that
song is gonna be stuck in my head for
sure would you say it says sticky as
slime hey Sandin hey mark are you guys
here to talk about your next debate
yeah we've been flexing our mental
muscles practicing our pronunciations
elocution elocution we're ready we just
need the next topic we've argued which
are better bridges or tunnels we've
pitted fire against lasers and we've now
devout cats or the evil or just
misunderstood our next debate is about
well we don't know that's where you come
in we want to know what you'd like us to
tackle in our next verses episode is it
gonna be bears vs. Bobcats planets vs.
stars is cereal a soup what I mean think
about it right
soup is just a liquid with stuff
floating in it that's what cereal is
that's crazy
soup has some vegetables and yeah that
cereal has grains and you could argue
though whoa whoa save it for the debate
guys but yeah send mark and sand in your
ideas at hello at brains on org thanks
guys no problem Molly totally a suit not [Music]
[Music]
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you can send drawings and questions that
same email address like Abe did from
Chevy Chase Maryland how I know old is
snakes smell food it comes my name is a
will answer that one at the end of the
show in our moment of um plus you'll
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you're listening to brains on I'm Molly
bloom now let's get back to slime some
of you told us that the first time you
saw a slime was on social media in fact
videos of people playing with slime can
get hundreds of thousands of views why
are people so obsessed with watching it
and playing with it our chemistry friend
Rachelle Burks thinks maybe it has to do
with how weirdly slime behaves it
doesn't do what we expect it to because
we expect things to be either a liquid
or a solid we we usually don't expect
things to kind of exist in this middle
realm we also asked our slime experts
Ashley Ava
Charlie and Irene to weigh in after you
make it it's fun to feel and play with I
think it's fine to bank and everyone
doesn't think of some people think it's
stressful but I think it's like relaxing
and fun and you get a fun end product in
my opinion my mom used to say slime is
gross because of the sounds but I think
it's actually very relaxing and calming
it's actually just like a nice
consistency and it's satisfying in a
releases stress Charlie gave us another
explanation for why she thinks so many
people like watching slime videos I
think it's because of the ASMR I don't
know what it stands for but I hear
people say it and that's I think that's
why I people watch it because it sounds
amazing and satisfying ASMR what is that
we asked Nick Davis a psychology
professor at Manchester Metropolitan
University in the United Kingdom is Emma
which stands for autonomic sensory
meridian response which is a very
strange relaxing tingly feeling that
some people get that might be triggered
by calming things in their environment
like like having their hair touched or
something like that nick has studied
ASMR and he says it's sort of a calm
chill on your head or your spine some
people get it when their back is
scratched others get it from hearing
soft sounds like the faint crinkling of
maybe you know what ASMR is or maybe you
don't it doesn't happen to everyone but
Nick says people who get that tingly
sensation often get it from similar
situations a lot of people get triggered
by whispering sounds or people paying
close attention to them so if you are in
a situation like a haircut where
somebody gets very close to you that
seems to trigger people's sort of
relaxed tingly sensation and we also
found that the sorts of things that
triggered ASMR seem to be related to
feeling very comfortable in another
person's presence so it's like being
maybe when you're being cuddled by your
mother when you're very young it takes
you back to that sort of sensation
nick says his team has never studied
slime specifically but he thinks that
when people play with it it makes soft
sounds sort of like the sounds you hear
from someone's mouth when they whisper
in your ear for some people those sounds
trigger ASMR of course all of these
ideas are just theories they're sort of
educated guesses about why we might like
slime in order to get a solid answer
we're going to need more research if
you've got a theory about why people
love slime feel free to send it to us at
hello at brains on org is it the sound
the texture the colors let us know
and speaking of sounds we almost forgot
it's time for the here it is did you
catch that here it is
once more got your guests here's the
answer I'm Eli McGinnis I am 10 years
old that was the sound of my dad hanging
a wool football with a metal bat this
sound was recorded in my yard where my
family was playing baseball together I
don't plan a baseball team buy a lot of
hit baseballs in my yard our family I
like to use different kinds of bats like
plastic wood and metal and like to
compare the different sounds they make
thanks Eli play ball now before we end
we're going to give shout outs to the
latest group of brainiacs to join the
honor roll but first we're going to
answer Abe's question about how snakes
smell with their tongues it's our moment
of my name's Carroll Spencer and I'm a
staff curator of herpetology at the
University of California at Berkeley
it's a Museum of vertebrate zoology
herpetology is a study of amphibians and
reptiles and I take care of the
specimens we have here in the museum
snakes are actually great at snowing in
a couple different ways and they smell
fills our nose but the way they smell
with their tongues is they have an organ
in their mouth and so they can pick up
something with their tongue either
chemicals or little pieces of something
they're floating around the air on the
tip of their tongue and then it goes
into the top of the roof of the mouth
and actually touches this organ called
the vomeronasal organ and they are able
to sense the sort of taste and smell
using this organ tell the farmer or
nasal organ because it's right and
biting you bones and all the bomber and
the needle for humans are right in the
front your face but first make it on the
top of their head so they can sense
something to eat them or they can even
send their mates and so and the coolest
part button to me is that because they
have makes and wizards all that forked
tongue their tongue can actually sense
direction so they can tell us something
in front of them or on the side or and
apparently they use this a lot more than
whoa
snakes are cool and speaking of cool
here's the latest group of kids to power
the show with their drawings questions
and awesome ideas it's the brains on a roll
karmak from Cranston Rhode Island marry
human Theo from Brisbane Australia hated
and Hudson from Winnipeg Sofia from
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Bloomington Illinois
Ellen Gwen and Clara from Cleveland
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view california Myron and Grady from
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Leigh from Fairbanks Alaska Ewan and
Anna from Seattle Maya and Tolly from Montreal
Montreal
Kol and Owen from Arlington
Massachusetts Sunday from Austin Texas
Jews from Calgary Liana from Minneapolis
Tessa from Valparaiso Indiana Audrey and
Owen from Newton Massachusetts Dempsey
and Amelia from Eagle River Alaska Eden
from South st. Paul Iowa and Elliott
from Portland Robbie from Prague Israel
from Sacramento Solomon from Arlington
Virginia Sonya and Maya from Princeton
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Erin from la Madeleine and Thomas from
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Washington thanks for listening and stay
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