How to Make Magnetic Slime from American Chemical Society

Posted on October 14, 2019

The American Chemical Society has released a new video that provides instructions for making magnetic slime. The ACS even suggests skipping work in order to make it. The video is part of the PBS series, Reactions.

These are the items you will need:

large mixing bowl
teaspoon
measuring cup
mixing spoon
white school glue
warm water
grocery store borax
food dye
iron filings
magnet

Sam begins making slime by pouring glue (which contains polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)), water, borax powder and iron filings into the mixing bowl. The water should be warm to help dissolve the borax. The borate ion in solution acts as a cross-linking agent for PVA which helps trap water and form the slime.

Sam also makes a mixture of colored slime by skipping the iron filings step and adding food dye.

You can also find a glow in the dark slime recipe on elmers.com. It requires the use of glow in the dark glue that Elmer's makes.

Image: American Chemical Society

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