Zoober Labs was asked by a company called Sneex Ltd. to design Goon Goo. Sneex told us Goon Goo was going to be used in the circus, but they really wanted a gooey monster with the intelligence to slither through the cracks of bank vaults and open them up from the inside. We refused to give them the Goon Goo, and Professor Zoober reported them to the police. Mr. Sneex, the owner of the company, is now in jail.
This recipe, which we have modified to prevent it from being misused, yields a playful slime with an extremely low IQ. It does not pose a threat. However, when you are finished playing with your blob of Goon Goo, don’t forget to store it in a sealed container, otherwise it might attempt to escape.
Note: This stuff may stain fabrics, so be careful not to get it on clothing, furniture, carpets, or rugs.
Ingredients
2 tablespoons Elmer’s Glue-All™ or other white glue
2 tablespoons water (purified water is best, but tap water is OK)
1 drop food coloring
2 teaspoons borax solution (page 16)
Tools
Glass cup
Measuring spoons
Metal or plastic spoon (for stirring)
Plastic baggie with self-closing seal
1 Combine the glue and water in the glass cup. Stir with a spoon until they are completely mixed.
2 Add the 1 drop of food coloring to the glue-water mixture. (You don’t need much to tint your ooze—too many drops will give you a stain-producing blob of glop that’s guaranteed to get you grounded for at least three days.)
3 Add the borax solution to the glue solution and stir. This is where the fun really begins. The mixture will immediately start to form a blob. Keep stirring. If some of the glue-water liquid does not clump together with the rest of the blob, add a little more borax solution and stir some more.
4 Pour out the excess liquid, put the blob in the plastic baggie, and knead it for a while.
5 Remove the blob and play with it! This plastic polymer feels cool and clammy. It looks wet and sticky, but will snap if you pull on it quickly. It will bounce if you throw it on the ground, and slump into a puddle if you set it on a countertop.
Add glitter after Step 1 to make “Glimmer Goo.”
HOW IT WORKS: Elmer’s glue contains two kinds of polymers: polyvinyl acetate and polyvinyl alcohol. The polyvinyl acetate is in the form of microscopic drops, and the polyvinyl alcohol surrounds the drops. When you use glue to stick things together, the polyvinyl alcohol dries up, which causes the polyvinyl acetate particles to clump together and become hard. When the borax solution is added to the glue-water mixture, it forms lots of rubbery “bridges” that link the polyvinyl chains. That’s why you end up with a blob. This kind of chemical reaction is called “cross-linking.”
BORAX SOLUTION: You’ll be using the borax solution for many of the slimy experiments. To make a batch of it, just add 1 tablespoon of borax (a popular laundry additive that you can buy at most supermarkets) to 1 cup of warm water. Stir until it dissolves. Store the liquid in a jar, and label it “BORAX SOLUTION—DO NOT DRINK” so nobody will attempt to drink it!
