Increasing Viscosity of Water 3

7/29/2019 Increasing Viscosity of Water 3

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http://www.superpants.net/gunge.html

Over the time that the gunge page has been on the website, It has becomeby far the most visited page, and I have had a number of enquiries frompeople wanting more information. I have therefore decided to update this

page, expand it and re-order it, giving more technical information, andsome specific recipes.

DefinitionsThe terminology for Gunge and Slime tends to vary somewhat around theworld, and between dictionaries, however in general usage Slime andGunge are virtually synonymous- typical UK definitions being;

Slime; n Unpleasant thick slippery substance (1)

Gunge; n informal Sticky unpleasant substance (1)

In my opinion, these are not really sufficient definitions to distinguishbetween the various types of mess that can be made. To come up with asuitable definition, I believe that three properties that a fluid may have needto be considered. These are;

Viscosity; The resitance of a fluid to shear forces, and hence to flow (2)

Tack(iness); Ability of a material to bond with another when contact is briefand pressure is light (2)

Stringiness; Like string, Fibrous (1)

If you base the definition of gunge on that typically used in British televisionshows, which I believe is how the UK public perceive a gunge to be, then asuitable general definition would be;

Gunge; A fluid which is viscous and tacky

Basing the definition of slime on the familiar children's toys, I believe asuitable definition is;

Slime; A fluid which is viscous and stringy, especially one that also displaystackiness

I will therefore use these definitions for the rest of this site.

The etymology does differ to that used in the USA.
http://www.superpants.net/gunge.htmlhttp://www.superpants.net/gunge.htmlhttp://www.superpants.net/gunge.html


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Making Gunge and SlimeRecipes for various types of gunge and slime can be found on the seperatepages on this site. For mixing small quantities a small hand mixer works

pretty effectively. For larger quanties a drill mounted mixer workseffectively.

Mixing ItemsGunge TechnologyVirtually all the gunges used in film and television, are based on anindustrial thickening agent (gum), either a food or cosmetic ingredient,although this is not always the case (e.g. Custard for Dick and Dom In DaBungalow). Technically they are usually Polysaccharides, a polymercarbohydrate. In particular many are derivatives of cellulose, of which therea huge range of products available.

Virtually any commercial thickening agent could be used, but there are a

number of reasons why a restricted number tend to be selected;

SafetyThis should obviously be of prime importance- this means that thethickeners should be products intended for food or cosmetic use. Industrialthickeners for paints, oil well drilling etc are therefore not likely to beappropriate.

AvailabilityIn most cases the industrial thickeners are not available directly to the


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Although not directly broken down by bacterial action, the cellulose basedthickeners can be degraded by enzyme action, resulting in it becomingwatery (4). I find that this tends to happen with the Natrosol gunge within afew days of being used.

Thickeners

A range of thickeners that can be used for gungemanufacture

As already mentioned, there are a wide range of possible thickeners. Inmost cases they are polysaccharides of some form. This means they are

chemically similar to sugar and starches, and are built up from the samebasic chemical molecules- a simple carbohydrate. These are linkedtogether to form a long chain, making a polymer.


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Branching of Polymers

Differences between various grades of the same material are usually downto different lengths of polymer chain, characterised by the molecular weight(MW) you may see on a manufacturer's datasheet, and by any branching of

the chain. As a rough and ready approximation, the longer and/or morebranchedthe chain is, when mixed with water, the more viscous will be the


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resultant gunge. Conversely, the powder will generally become moredifficult to disperse, the higher the molecular weight. I will cover the basic ofinformation regarding each material, as this page is only abrief introduction to the subject. I will also cover only those substances

known to be used to produce gunge or slimes, or where I have experienceusing them. There is plenty of more detailed information available for thosewith a more scientific interest in the subject out there (in particular see ref4).

Guar gum gunge in use(Coloured with food dye)

Guar Gum (E412)Guar is a naturally occurring gum, extracted from the Guar (or cluster)Bean, most of the world's supply coming from India. It is relatively cheap,and readily available from health food stores. The first few events I createdGunge for, I used Guar Gum which was obtained as samples from acommercial food ingredient supplier. This worked quite effectively whenmade up, but proved to be very hard work to mix- the gum has a tendencyto clump, which makes mixing it to smooth consistency very difficult. Thephoto at the head of the page is of an event at the University of Surrey

Student's union using this type. I no longer tend to use it except in thestringy slime recipes listed below.


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Xanthan Gum (E415)Xanthan is the first of the commercially synthesised thickeners, beingmanufactured by the fermentation by the bacteria Xanthomanas campestris

of Glucose or Sucrose, followed by collection, cleaning and milling. It isavailable under the trade names Keltrol and Kelzan. In recent years it hasstarted to be used as gluten substitute, and therefore has started tobecome more easily available from health food shops, larger supermarketsin the UK and homemade soap suppliers (5). If my memory serves mecorrectly, this was the material used for the Run the Risk TV show

Cellulose Based ThickenersAll of these are based on cellulose extracted from vegetable matter andthen chemically treated with a range of processes to alter the properties

(viscosity, dispersion etc) to suit particular needs

Hydroxyethylcellulose (Natrosol) gungein use, coloured with powder paint

HydroxyethylcellulosePossibly the most common cellulose based thickener used for gunge, it isknown by the trade name Natrosol used by the BBC for Noels House Party


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amongst other programmes (6), and widely used for charity events andhome gunging.

Methylcellulose (E641)

A very common cellulosic thickener, it has a wide range of commercialuses including being the main constituent of many wallpaper pastes (7).Known by the trade name Methocel (manufactured by Dow), its most wellknown use was used in the Ghostbusters films(8,33) and the bulk of theslime used in alien resurrection(10,11).

Others cellulosicsOther possible cellulose based materials that could also be used ifavailable include; Hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (E464)- often known asHypromellose, Carboxy methyl cellulose (E466) and Sodium carboxy

methyl cellulose (E467)

Super Absorbant PolymerSodium Polyacrylate/ Potassium Polyacrylate/ PolyacrylamideThere are a number of chemically similar materials, generically known asSuper Absorbent Polymers (SAP), of which Sodium Polyacrylate is themost common type, most commonly known as the main absorbent indisposable nappies and as a soil conditioner. A good background on thematerial can be found at ref (12). Like most of the industrial thickeners,their properties are dependent on the molecular weight and branching, butalso by the physical form the powder is in (granules/ powder etc), givingrise to a range of possibilities for different textures. Commercially it isavailable as Gellibaff(13)(and other bath gels). It has some majoradvantages in that it is easy to mix, and the viscosity of the fluid can bemassively affected by sodium chloride (table salt), so disposal is easy asthe viscosity can be dropped back to close to that of water (14). It doesn'thave good tackiness, however, and so in my opinion doesn't make aparticularly good gunge (3).

Polyacrylamide is chemically similar to Sodium Polyacrylate, but is notaffected by the addition of table salt (14). Commercially it is available as'Yuck'(15).


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Polyox Slime

(Coloured with cosmetic pigment)Polyethylene OxidePolyethelyne Oxide (PEO) (or Polyoxyethelyne (POE)) is another highmolecular weight polymer, the common trade name being Polyox (16).

Typically it will have a molecular weight above about 100,000. Below this itwill tend to be known as Polyethelyne Glycol (PEG), the common trade


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name here being Carbowax (17). Both PEG and PEO are widely used incosmetics as well as such items as vetinary lubricants (18).Polyox is pretty difficult to mix as a raw material (3). Commercial products

therefore mix other materials such as sugar to make dispersion easier (18).

Psyllium/ Ispaghula HuskAnother naturally occurring thickener- this is made from the ground up huskof the Plantago Ovata seed. When mixed up it tends to form a stringyslime.It is sold in health food stores as a milled form as a form of dietary fibresupplement, but in this form is not particularly soluble as it clumps onmixing with water. For this reason there are a wide range of purified andprepared formulations on the market, sold as bulk forming laxatives. The

formulations vary, but all have the common form of coating the powderedhusk with another substance to avoid the clumping (19). The two most wellknown brands are Fybogel in the UK and Metamucil in the US. Best resultsseem to be obtained by either boiling a mixture of the husk powder andwater or heating in the microwave for a few minutes. Typically theconcentration needs to be approx 2% by weight, but as this is a naturalproduct, there is significant variation between supplier and batch (3).

Wallpaper PasteIn the UK it is difficult to obtain wallpaper paste that hasn't had a fungicidaladditive mixed in with it. For this reason I wouldn't consider using it as agunge. Chemically it is often a methylcellulose grade or a Dextrin- amodified starch (4,7).

Theatrical SloshA perennial favourite in pantomimes in the UK is the slapstick scene-epitomised by the laundry scene in Aladdin. The particular mess in this andin clowning shows is generally known as slosh.There are many variations on the recipes for slosh, but the key features arethat it is soap based, and usually a foam (26).The common base recipe is to grate a shaving stick into a bucket,sometimes quoted to be one manufactured by Erasmic (35,26,36), followedby whipping up with hot/ boiling water. If manufacturing a bucket or more, apaint stirrer attachment for a drill works well (3). One stick with 1/2l of waterand makes approx 1 Bucket of slosh.Other ingredients can be added including food colouring or poster paint to

colour the slosh (best added to the water first). I have also seen cornflour,


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glycerine and gelatine quoted as other useful additives, but haven't yetinvestigated these thoroughly.

A further variation I have rarely seen is to dissolve soap flakes into boilingwater with a small quantity of glycerine and food colour (3,37).Jelly/ Jello/ GelatineIn small quantities this is easily available and easy to make, however Iavoid using it for a number of reasons- Primarily it is difficult to make involume as it requires boiling water and refrigeration. Couple this with thefact it's viscosity is temperature dependent and doesn't store well whenmixed makes it difficult to use. SAPs are commonly used to give a jellyeffect for example for wrestling in.Denture FixativeDenture fixative has been sugeested as suitable to make a slime by thosemaking home movies (34). Wernets/ poligrip is available and contains acellulose thickener. It works but is an expensive way of getting thethickener (3).

Cornflour used for "walking on custard"CornflourThe basis of custard, can form a highly thixotropic liquid when mixed withwater- This is the basis of the walking on custard demonstrations. (e.g. the

well known Brainiac episode). The proportion of Cornflour to water need to


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be very high so this is not a cheap activity in large volumes (3).


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Guar Gum Slime


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(cross-linked with borax and coloured with poster paint)Cross-linkingSome of the thickeners have the ability to have their chains cross-linked to

make the viscosity much higher, by the action other chemicals. BothPVA (poly vinyl alcohol) and Guar Gum are particularly good at crosslinking with a common chemical, sodium tetraborate- more normally knownas borax (4). The cross-linked guar gum is the material sold in toy storesas slime- but can be fairly easily made at home. There are good recipes forthis at 'Chemistry in the Toy Store' (20), along with a good explanation ofthe chemistry.

Colouring and colourants

There are a number of options open for colouring the gunge, each withtheir own benefits. I would recommend using products known to be safe forskin contact. It is worth bearing in mind that to produce an intenselycoloured gunge, quite a lot of the dye will be needed- It is thereforeinherent risk that it will stain. To reduce the risk of damage to clothes, avoidwhite or light colours and wash them as soon as possible after the event,preferably before it dries on (3).

Whilst most users will tend to colour their gunge with powder paints, liquidtempera (poster paints) or food colourings there are a wide range of other

options available. Commercially, colourants are split in to two main classes;dyes and pigments, defined as follows;

Pigment: A pigment is a finely divided solid colouring material, which isessentially insoluble in it's application medium (21)

Dye: Soluble colourant- may be soluble in water or other liquids

The ideal colourant for our uses would be readily available in a wide range

of colours, non-staining, non toxic, vivid and available as both opaque andclear versions, as well as being low cost. Unfortunately the perfect solutiondoes not seem to exist, so we are forced to compromise on some factors,in particular with the commonly used colourants the inherent risk is that itwill stain. To reduce the risk of damage to clothes, avoid white or lightcolours and wash them as soon as possible after the event, preferablybefore it dries on.

A wide range of possible Colourants


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Colourants mixed at usable concentrations

Food colouringWidely available, safe and cheap. In my experience can stain quite badlyas it is a dye, and therefore designed to be absorbed onto food. It is clearso means that mixed gunge will not be very visible when not in bulk (3).

Powder PaintsThis is the colourant used in some of the commercial suppliers pre-mixedpowders (22). It is a pigment, so is generally less staining than foodcolouring and is opaque (at least if mixed in sufficient concentrations). Itseems to be getting superseded for home kids painting (in the UK at least)by the premixed paints, and is so becoming slightly more difficult to obtainon the high street than it once was.The composition is based on a pigment, an opacifier (usually titanium

dioxide), some binders (can be dextrose based) and an extender, usuallycalcium-carbonate (chalk) (21). In my opinion the presence of theextenders reduce the vividness of the colour, and for gunge, the bindersarent necessary. If someone could formulate a powder with thesechanges, wed have the perfect colourant!I believe it is the type of colouring used in at least some of the commerciallyavailable suppliers products (22).

Liquid Tempera (Poster Paint)Widely available, safe and opaque. These are a good all round choice,particularly as the range of colours is wide and includes fluorescent neon.


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The colours do seem to be more vivid than the powder paints. The maindisadvantage is that some colours will stain, and a reasonable quantity isneeded to get a suitably opaque mix. I have also been unable to find muchuseful information on the formulation, particularly on binders or other

chemicals used.

HelizarinHelizarin is a trade name of BASF, but is of note as it is the range of dyesquoted as being used by the BBC for their gunge (6). It is not easilyavailable, although there is one trade source of small quantities in the UK.It produces a very vivid colour, and is in my opinion the best looking colouravailable, but it is not sold as safe for skin contact (23), as well as beingstaining. I would not therefore recommend it for home use.

Bath TintsThese are available as tablets for colouring bath water, and are sold undera number of names, typically 'Fizzy bath tints'. They provide a way ofcolouring that is not likely to stain, but only have a minimum of colouringpower (3).

Cosmetic Dyes & PigmentsThere are a wide range of dyes and pigments available that are used incosmetics, and hence are safe to use. After spending some timeinvestigating and experimenting with these I have come to the conclusionthat for normal use they do not offer any great advantage over the otheroptions, and are not as easy to obtain. They main benefit I can envisagewith these are the availability of specialist additives like pearlising agentsand fine glitters that could add sparkle to a gunge.Colouring IntensityEven a small amount of colourant will give an intense and opaque effectwhen the gunge is in bulk, however when the gunge is in a thin film, as willoccur when it is being used, significantly more colourant will be needed if

you want the object/ person underneath to be obscured. Dependent on theapplication, I will typically use between 1 and 2% by weight of powderpaint to produce a suitably opaque and intense colour. I have gone as faras 5% when I have had a need to get a particularly strong effect inphotographs. If you need opacity, but not a vibrant colour then a mix ofwhite powder paint to provide the opacity and another colourant can give adesirable, but more pastel effect.

These figures should be taken as a guide only as there will be variation

between different manufacturers paints and between colours in their range.If a particular effect is needed then Id recommend experimenting first. It is


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also worth noting that at the higher concentrations, some of the filler in thepaint will slowly drop out of suspension. It is therefore a good idea to givethe gunge a good stir before use.

The following image gives some comparison of the opacity and coveringpower of different concentrations, using Natrosol and NES Arnold bluepowder paint.


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Paint Concentrations

Blue powder paint mixed with water and Natrosol at 1%


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called Blair Adhesives in the US (30,31,32,33).There is no indication ofwhat the slime is based on, although the colouring is known to be foodcolouring (32)

SafetyWhilst I have been careful to only list materials on this page that are notknown to have any significant health risks associated with them, theycannot all be classed as completely hazard free.

The largest single issue is the slipperiness of the mix- it can be very easy toslip over on. It is therefore essential to consider this when planning anyactivities involving gunge, including clean up and washing off as the mostsignificant effects will be found on a smooth surface such as a bath!

Most of the materials are supplied as relatively fine powders, and as suchcreate nuisance dust. It is therefore worth wearing a dust mask whenhandling. Likewise if this dust gets into eyes it can cause irritation.

Most of the materials are sold as safe for skin contact (e.g. cosmetics) andto date I have not had any problems with this. I would however be slightlywary of allowing prolonged skin contact with the colourants as it may stain!

All of these main materials (with one exception- see below) are not

hazardous when eaten, however many are used as laxative additives, so itwould probably be unwise to consume large quantities (4)!

Borax (Sodium Tetraborate) is the main exception to the above- It is notsafe for consumption, and should therefore be handled and used carefullyso as to avoid ingestion, although in the quantities actually present in slimeit should not cause any concern. (27)

In addition to the specific information above, general safe chemicalhandling practice will further reduce the risk of any issues, in particular;

Store materials in sealed, well marked, containers in an area out of reachof children and petsWash hands before and after handling these materialsDispose of excess/ used materials/ empty packaging responsiblyWear dust mask when handling powdersClean up any spills quickly- Avoid using water to stop the area becomingslipperyDo not use utensils/ containers/ cleaning cloths that will be later used forfood

References


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(1) English Dictionary, Home Edition, Collins, ISBN 978-0-00-784932-1(2) Materials Science and Technology Dictionary, Prof P.M.B. Walker,Chambers, ISBN 0-550-13249-x(3) Personal experimentation

(4) Industrial Gums- Polysaccharides and Their Derivatives, SecondEdition,Roy Whistle, Academic Press 1973, ISBN 012746252(5) http://www.thesoapkitchen.co.uk/(6) BBC red nose day website 1999(7) http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/160522/dextrin(8) Quest- Marshall Cavendish Partwork(10) Rosie O'donnell show interview with Sigourney Weaver, Nov 26th,1997(11) Alien The Special Effects, Don Shay & Bill Norton, Cinefex ISBN 1-

85286-695-0(12) http://www.m2polymer.com/html/chemistry_sap.html(13) Gellibaff MSDS- http://www.gellibaff.com/safety/files/msdsheet-4.pdf(14) Superabsorbent Polymers Science and Technology, F.L.Buchholz &N.A.Peppa, ACS Symposium Series 573, ISBN 0-8412-3039-0(15) Buckets of Yuck MSDS- http://www.buckets-o-fun.com/gamesheets/MSDS.pdf(16) Dow Polyox Water-Soluble Resins Datasheet- 326-00001-0302 AMS(17) Dow Carbowax and Carbowax Sentry Datasheet- 118-1260-0306 AMS(18) J-Lube MSDS- http://www.jorvet.com/msds/j_lube.pdf(19) Patents; US20050031714, US4321263, US5126150(20) http://www.chymist.com/toy_store.html(21) Colour Chemistry, R.M. Christie, RSC Paperbacks, 2001, ISBN 0-85404-573-2(22) Youtube video for thegungeshop.com-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9G0lPyRKLqM(23) Concentrated Liquid Pigment MSDS- Flint Hire and Supply(24) http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/160522/dextrin(25) Dow Methocel Cellulose ethers technical handbook, 192-01062-

697GW(26) http://amdram.co.uk/forums/index.php?showtopic=5342&hl=slosh(27)http://www.thesoapkitchen.co.uk/images/MSDS/powders%20&%20granules/MSDS%20Borax.pdf(28)http://www.cosmeticsbusiness.com/technical/article_page/Repeat_performance/47074(29) Super Goop MSDS, Roger George Rentals(30) http://www.nick.com/shows/kids-choice-awards/pictures/kca-2010-

making-of-flipbook.html


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(31) http://www.blairadhesives.com/Special_Effects.html(32) http://blog.zap2it.com/tvfashion/2010/03/to-a-funeral-we-wear.html(33) http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/29/arts/television/29nick.html(34) http://www.theeffectslab.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1786

(35) http://www.erasmic.co.uk/shave-brush.html(36) Conversations with professional stage manager(37) Blue Peter episode late 1980s- from memory

Supplier DetailsThe Basic Chemical Company (UK) LtdHillbottom RoadSands Industrial EstateHigh WycombeBuckinghamshire

HP12 4HJ01494 450701http://www.basicchemicals.co.uk/

The Soap Kitchen (warehouse),Units 2 D&E Hatchmoor Industrial Estate,Hatchmoor Road, Torrington,DevonEX38 7HP. UK.01805 622944.http://www.thesoapkitchen.co.uk/

(c) Superpants October 2010, Jan 2011, Sept 2011

A significant amount of effort has gone into researching this page. Pleasedo not plagiarise this work without contacting me for permission first- I willusually say yes! This page will be updated periodically as and when new Ifind new, relevant information.

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Increasing Viscosity of Water 3