Sodium Polyacrylate
Here are some pictures of the amazing material sodium polyacrylate (SPA). In the pictures you will see what it does, and if you can't tell what happened, I added first 25, then 50 ml of water to about 3 ml of SPA. All the water was absorbed. The captions will give you a breif description of what you see in each slide. Enjoy.
Chemical Formula:
CH2-CH(CO2Na)
Pic 1: (from left to right) Powder scoop, bottle of SPA, Erlenmeyer flask
Pic 2: Adding SPA to the flask
Pic 3: SPA in the flask
Pic 4: Added 25 ml of water, absorbed and the SPA takes on the texture of fake snow
Pic 5: Some SPA in my hand, feels cool due to evaporation
Pic 6: Added another 25 ml of water to SPA, feels cold and slimy (think partially solidified Jello)
Chemical Formula:
CH2-CH(CO2Na)
Pic 1: (from left to right) Powder scoop, bottle of SPA, Erlenmeyer flask
Pic 2: Adding SPA to the flask
Pic 3: SPA in the flask
Pic 4: Added 25 ml of water, absorbed and the SPA takes on the texture of fake snow
Pic 5: Some SPA in my hand, feels cool due to evaporation
Pic 6: Added another 25 ml of water to SPA, feels cold and slimy (think partially solidified Jello)