Looking Back:
I really liked the way my bouncy ball turned out, even though it kind of died after a couple of hours. Mine bounced, but it didn’t bounce as high as I expected it to. It was somewhat lame, but it was amusing to me. Making the balls didn’t live up to my expectations either. It was really rushed because I had partners who did a lab beforehand and they didn’t leave enough time for our lab.
It also didn’t form correctly because there were little cracks and it began to split in half while it was drying. This was probably due to the fact that I didn’t form it into a ball right away because I was cleaning. The glue dried faster than normal, making my ball look like a hot mess when I added the food coloring.
Looking Beyond:
This activity demonstrates an interesting chemical reaction, primarily between the borax and the glue. The borax acts as a “cross-linker” to the polymer molecules in the glue. Borax basically it creates chains of molecules that stay together when you pick them up. The cornstarch helps to bind the molecules together so that they hold their shape better.
Looking Inward:
I thought my bouncy ball was extremely amusing to be honest. It was bouncy and I didn’t really expect it to go really high like the rubber ones you can get for 50 cents. I expected it to at least bounce up half away from where I dropped it. It bounced like a foot back up and died. The process was really quick and simple. I was kind of hoping it would be more exciting and fun. Just like the chapstick, it wasn’t action packed, but what could I expect? I was making bouncy balls…
Looking Outward:
I worked with Ivy, Erika, and Daisy on the bouncy ball lab. We didn’t really work on the lab together because we did them all on different days. There was miscommunication on when to bring the items and we just did the lab when it suited our schedule. It wasn’t hard to make them by yourself, but I wish we had done it together and used different measurements so we could figure out how to get the maximum bounciness.
Looking Forward:
For better results, I would’ve put more borax to make it bounce higher. I saw that if you put too much glue, it would stick to the gloves and wouldn’t shape as easy. If you put too much water, it would just be a soggy mess of a wannabe ball. It would take forever for the both of them to be dry enough to bounce.
If I could do this lab over again, I would do it by myself because I wouldn’t have to wait for people to do other labs and then our lab. It was simple to do and the ingredients were not hard to find.
Takeaways:
One thing I took away was that it’s not worth it to make your own bouncy ball. They end up drying up and just being a hazard to your pets. I had to throw mine out because I was scared my dog was going to mistake it for a treat and eat it. Borax is a dangerous material if ingested.