1. Lab: Hydrogen Bonding (Making Slime!)

2. In this lab, you are going to cross-link a polymer using hydrogen bonds.

3. A polymer is a large molecule formed from bonding together a smaller molecule over and over again into a repeating chain. Example: The chains can include up to millions of atoms. Real-life examples of polymers: Plastics and proteins

4. To make your slime, you will begin with a polymer - polyvinyl alcohol. This is an ORGANIC INORGANIC molecule. A simpler way of drawing these big molecules is shown below. Each corner represents a carbon atom and as many hydrogens as needed to give the carbon 4 bonds.

5. You will add sodium tetraborate (Na 2 B 4 O 7 ) to the polyvinyl alcohol. The sodium tetraborate will crosslink (connect) the strands of polyvinyl alcohol through hydrogen bonds.

6. This results in a substance that is highly viscous (thick). You have made slime!