TACNY Junior Cafe Scientifique – Slime, Putty and Other Gooey Things: Are They Solids or Liquids?

TACNY Junior Cafe: Slime, Putty and Other Gooey Things: Are They Solids or Liquids?

Polymers are all around us: we drink from them, we play with them, we wear them, we walk on them. Polymers are long chains of repeating units which can be manmade (for example: polyethylene, nylon) or natural (DNA, proteins). When new polymers are made in the lab, they are characterized to understand how they behave including when heated or cooled, how they stretch or break, and how they flow.

Some polymers (other materials too) can behave like solids and liquids depending on how they are handled. For example, in 3D-printing, polymer needs to flow like a liquid then solidify to form the printed part. This is also the case for manufacturing processes that utilize polymers. We will explore familiar polymers and other substances to understand how they flow and the science behind their behaviors.