Super Slime Engineering
Who can engineer the best slime? Beginning with a preset recipe, students make slime, observe it, and then decide on what and how they want to improve it, such as making it stickier or less sticky. Students then make their updated slime by implementing the changes they want to make. They are introduced to product optimization, material science and polymer engineering.
Students make their own slime!Copyright 2020 Marah Mukhtar, University of Florida MRET
Materials science engineers and polymer engineers use the engineering design process to design, develop and manufacture polymers, plastics, and even slime. Product optimization is one of the most important processes in engineering. Like real engineers, students design a product, run tests, make observations and implement changes accordingly.
After this activity, students should be able to:
- Describe the effects on the properties of slime due to changing the component proportions.
- Use their 5 senses to make relevant observations.
- Describe what “optimization” is and why it’s important in engineering.