Chemical Reaction Between Glue And A Borax Solution

In science class an experiment was conducted with glue and a borax solution. When mixed together these two had chemical reaction and formed a new substance similar to slime. A chemical change occurred in this experiment when the two altered in appearance. Chemical changes occur when a substance combines with another to form a new substance, called synthesis or, alternatively, decomposes into two or more different substances. These processes are called chemical reactions and, in general, are not reversible except by further chemical reactions. A polymer is a large molecule, or macromolecule, composed of many repeated subunits. Because of their broad range of properties, both synthetic and natural polymers play an essential and ubiquitous role in everyday life. Polymers range from familiar synthetic plastics such as polystyrene to natural biopolymers such as DNA and proteins that are fundamental to biological structure and function. …show more content…
The borax is acting as the crosslinking agent or "connector" for the glue (polyvinyl acetate) molecules. A cross-link is a bond that links one polymer chain to another. They can be covalent bonds or ionic bonds. "Polymer chains" can refer to synthetic polymers or natural polymers (such as proteins). Once the glue molecules join together to form even larger molecules called polymers, you get a thickened gel very similar to slime. Below is the chemical formula for glue, borax, and what they create when combined with each