Make glue from milk
We have looked at making ‘plastic milk’ before. This week we are taking it one step further and making glue.
What you need:
- Milk
- White vinegar
- Baking soda
- Pan
- Water
- Strainer
Instructions
- Heat 1 and a half cups of milk in a pan, once warm add 3 teaspoons of white vinegar.
- Keep heating and stirring the mixture and you should see the curds ( solid part ) and whey ( liquid part ) separate.
- Strain the mixture using a sieve. You should be left with solid lumps which you can mould together to make a ball.
- Place the solid mixture back in the pan and add a little water and a tablespoon of baking soda.
- Heat the mixture until it starts to bubble.
- Give it a good stir and let it cool. You can now use it as glue. You might need to add a little more water or baking soda until you get the right consistency. It should look like a thick paste.
- I tested ours by sticking two egg boxes together ( both contain eggs, so are heavy ). It worked!!!
The Science bit
Here’s what happened to the milk. By adding the vinegar, you create a chemical reaction which makes the milk to separate into two parts, a solid (the curds), and a liquid (the whey). The curds are milk protein, called casein. Liquid casein is a natural glue.
When we add the baking soda it neutralises the vinegar ( which is acidic ). The bubbles are caused by Carbon dioxide gas being given off as part of the reaction. The curds form a liquid again after being neutralised.
Emma @sciencesparks
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This entry was posted by ScienceSparks on February 6, 2012 at 7:00 am, and is filed under Chemistry. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0.You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.
- Comments (4)
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It’s very interesting. I have this idea in my mind but I haven’t realize it yet. Every sunday we do a scientific experimet and maybe one of the next sunday we will make it.
Greetings from Ital
Sorry from Italy
Ah! Interesting – not doing this one though when there are more beautiful things i still haven’t done – like the Christmas sugar crystals!
amazing! that’s very clever…although I cant begin to imagine the smell!
x
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