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Artificial Snow: Materials Used

Sodium polyacrylate is used to create artificial snow. When sodium polyacrylate is added to water, it absorbs 200-300 times its mass in water and swells up into flakes resembling snow. This occurs because the water molecules penetrate the chains of the sodium polyacrylate granules, unraveling them. Too much water causes the granules to stick together into a jelly-like gel. Students are instructed to add sodium polyacrylate to water in a Petri dish and beaker to observe it expand and resemble snow.

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Ronald Dalida
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46 views1 page

Artificial Snow: Materials Used

Sodium polyacrylate is used to create artificial snow. When sodium polyacrylate is added to water, it absorbs 200-300 times its mass in water and swells up into flakes resembling snow. This occurs because the water molecules penetrate the chains of the sodium polyacrylate granules, unraveling them. Too much water causes the granules to stick together into a jelly-like gel. Students are instructed to add sodium polyacrylate to water in a Petri dish and beaker to observe it expand and resemble snow.

Uploaded by

Ronald Dalida
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Artificial Snow

Materials Used

 sodium polyacrylate;
 distilled water;
 Petri dish;
 narrow-necked beaker;
 large beaker

Step-by-step instructions

Put 3 g of sodium polyacrylate in a Petri dish and add 15 ml of distilled water. The
sodium polyacrylate will start to swell up and turn into “snow”. Also place a small
amount of sodium polyacrylate in a narrow-necked beaker and add 100 ml of water.
Observe the sodium polyacrylate expand. After several minutes there will be so
much of it that it will start to spill out of the beaker.

Processes description

Sodium polyacrylate is a sodium salt of polyacrylic acid. Its molecules are very long,
consisting of identical repeating fragments containing charged groups. Sodium poly-
acrylate is a very hygroscopic substance, i.e. it likes to absorb water. One of the
main properties of the compound is the ability to absorb liquid of 200-300 times its
own mass. So it instantly absorbs water and swells up immensely, forming flakes
that resemble snow. Why does this happen? The water molecules penetrate be-
tween the chains inside the granules of sodium polyacrylate. Each sodium cation
Na⁺ puts on a “coat” of water molecules. These “coats” also form around negatively
charged centers – the carboxylate groups CO²⁻. Each chain of polyacrylate that is
“soaked” in this manner unravels. However, the water in this experiment is not suffi-
cient for all of them, and goes inside each granule. So “dry” chains remain on the
outside. From inner expansion, air comes between them, and the total volume in-
creases. If there is too much water, the granules become soggy, stick together and
turn into gel – a semi-transparent viscous mass which has a very similar consistency
to jelly or aspic.

Safety precautions

You can touch artificial snow, but don’t eat it. Don’t forget to wash your hands after
touching the artificial snow.

Prepared by : Submitted to :
Donna Jane Rasco Mrs. Evelyn Buitre

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