This is one of those ‘chemistry magic show’ type of experiments to wow your friends and family. Here’s the scoop: you take a cup of clear liquid, add it to another cup of clear liquid, stir for ten seconds, and you’ll see a color change, a state change from liquid to solid, and you can pull a rubber-like bouncy ball right out of the cup.
Silicones are water repellent, so you’ll find that food dye doesn’t color your bouncy ball. You’ll find silicone in greases, oils, hydraulic fluids, and electrical insulators.
The sodium silicate is a long polymer chain of alternating silicon and oxygen atoms. When ethanol (ethyl alcohol) is added, it bridges and connects the polymer chains together by cross-linking them. Think of a rope ladder—the wooden rungs are the cross-linking agents (the ethanol) and the two ropes are the polymer chains (sodium silicate).
Safety information for Sodium Silicate: MSDS.
