Magic Sand is basically regular sand with coated in a hydrophobic substance, which keeps the sand dry. Hydrophobic substances repel water, whereas hydrophilic substances absorbs water.
Looking Back:
Our sand turned out pretty well I think! When we put it in water, it came out dry as if the sand didn’t touch water at all. It was it was actually kind of cool when the sand would float on top of the water and you stuck your finger in the middle and it would come out dry.
When we were playing with the magic sand, our group ended up putting too much water and it kind of got diluted (?). The sand ended up not working after that and it turned back into regular sand. Some of the grains just floated to the bottom and was wet when it came back up. The method wasn’t exactly perfect, even though we used about 7 layers of the hydrophobic substances.
Looking Beyond:
During this lab, we learned the properties of substances that are hydrophobic and hydrophilic. Hydrophobic substances do not mix with water. The term “water-fearing” is often used to describe the word hydrophobic. Hydrophilic substances, on the other hand, are “water-loving.” For example, oil and water don’t mix because it’s hydrophobic. Since oil is hydrophobic, the oil did not mix with the food coloring or the water. Magic sand is regular sand that has been coated with an oil-like substance that is water-hating or hydrophobic. The surface of sand grains is made wet by water, which means that water molecules are attracted to sand grains and makes it hydrophilic.
Looking Inward:
I liked the way it worked out. It wasn’t very hard to do though because Andrew just sprayed a hydrophobic substance on the sand, we mixed them together and put it in water. I thought it was kind of boring to make it because only one person was mixing it together. I wish we had less people in a group instead of six or seven. There wasn’t a lot to do for everybody in the group.
Looking Outward:
I worked with Erika, Ivy, Daisy, Morgan, and Maia on this lab. I thought our group worked pretty well with each other. We’re friends outside of class, so there wasn’t any tension or disagreements. I’m pretty sure the only disagreement was what sand color to pick. I don’t usually talk to Maia, but she’s really sweet and just rolled with what we did with the sand.
Looking Forward:
For better results, I wish we got real sand from the beach instead of hermit crab stand. The Hermit crab sand didn’t really have the same effect as we should have gotten because it’s artificial. I would’ve liked to know how different the results would be; hermit crab sand vs. real sand.
If I were to do this project over again, I would stick to one color because the green and pink sand mixed looked like barf and it wasn’t aesthetically pleasing. Also, I would like to be put into smaller groups (possibly individually?). It was just lame sitting around while some stirred the whole time while we made the sand.
Takeaways:
A takeaway I had was that it’s really hard to make your own magic sand. It took about 7 coats of the hydrophobic substance to cover almost ever grain of sand. Some of the grains didn’t even have the substance on it and it because wet.
Looking Back:
Our sand turned out pretty well I think! When we put it in water, it came out dry as if the sand didn’t touch water at all. It was it was actually kind of cool when the sand would float on top of the water and you stuck your finger in the middle and it would come out dry.
When we were playing with the magic sand, our group ended up putting too much water and it kind of got diluted (?). The sand ended up not working after that and it turned back into regular sand. Some of the grains just floated to the bottom and was wet when it came back up. The method wasn’t exactly perfect, even though we used about 7 layers of the hydrophobic substances.
Looking Beyond:
During this lab, we learned the properties of substances that are hydrophobic and hydrophilic. Hydrophobic substances do not mix with water. The term “water-fearing” is often used to describe the word hydrophobic. Hydrophilic substances, on the other hand, are “water-loving.” For example, oil and water don’t mix because it’s hydrophobic. Since oil is hydrophobic, the oil did not mix with the food coloring or the water. Magic sand is regular sand that has been coated with an oil-like substance that is water-hating or hydrophobic. The surface of sand grains is made wet by water, which means that water molecules are attracted to sand grains and makes it hydrophilic.
Looking Inward:
I liked the way it worked out. It wasn’t very hard to do though because Andrew just sprayed a hydrophobic substance on the sand, we mixed them together and put it in water. I thought it was kind of boring to make it because only one person was mixing it together. I wish we had less people in a group instead of six or seven. There wasn’t a lot to do for everybody in the group.
Looking Outward:
I worked with Erika, Ivy, Daisy, Morgan, and Maia on this lab. I thought our group worked pretty well with each other. We’re friends outside of class, so there wasn’t any tension or disagreements. I’m pretty sure the only disagreement was what sand color to pick. I don’t usually talk to Maia, but she’s really sweet and just rolled with what we did with the sand.
Looking Forward:
For better results, I wish we got real sand from the beach instead of hermit crab stand. The Hermit crab sand didn’t really have the same effect as we should have gotten because it’s artificial. I would’ve liked to know how different the results would be; hermit crab sand vs. real sand.
If I were to do this project over again, I would stick to one color because the green and pink sand mixed looked like barf and it wasn’t aesthetically pleasing. Also, I would like to be put into smaller groups (possibly individually?). It was just lame sitting around while some stirred the whole time while we made the sand.
Takeaways:
A takeaway I had was that it’s really hard to make your own magic sand. It took about 7 coats of the hydrophobic substance to cover almost ever grain of sand. Some of the grains didn’t even have the substance on it and it because wet.