Making Snow

There is a common polymer used in both baby diapers and water crystals found at a garden center. Combine this polymer with water and you have a substance that looks and feels like snow, except it's not as cold! Now that's a little science magic!!

You will need:

The polymer found in baby diapers and water crystals, called sodium polyacrylate, and water.

Now try this:

· Very simply add water and observe the polymer ?absorb? the water. You can make this snow to your desired wetness (dry or slushy snow).

Explanation:

Sodium polyacrylate is superabsorbent polymer and absorbs the water by a process called osmosis. During osmosis the water molecules pass through the large polymer molecule that is sodium polyacrylate, causing the polymer to stretch and swell to a very large size.

You can observe the physical change that takes place by letting the water evaporate and the sodium polyacrylate will return to it?s original size.

Have fun by food coloring to the water, does that change the color of the fake snow? What happens if you use warm vs. cold water? What happens if you salt water?