No Spill Polymer Experiment

Materials

  • Ziploc bag
  • Water
  • Sharpened pencils/pencil crayons

Instructions

  1. Fill Ziploc bag with water
  2. Seal the top
  3. Hold bag over a sink/bathtub/outside so not to spill water
  4. Push pencil through bag straight and fast

Why does this happen?

No water spills out of the holes because ziploc bags are made of a polymer. When you poke the sharp pencil into the plastic the pencil point slides in between the chain of molecules that make up the polymer. The molecule chains "hug" the pencil, making a seal around the pencil that won't let the water out.

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