Polymers?

In this lab we were testing how you could make polymers from glue and borax. It was an exciting lab because before then our teacher tricked us into think you could change water’s polar ability. She said it was a trick made by polymers. She showed us if they soak in water they expand in size and they look invisible in water. The video link can be found here. She told us we could  make our own polymers with only a couple materials.


Materials:
500mL Beaker
Glue
Borax
A Graduated Cylinder
250mL Beaker
Stirring Rod
Paper Towels
Plastic Spoon

Procedures: What my team and I first did was to read and re-read the directions. We wanted to make sure we didn’t mess up. Too bad we did. We accidently put the glue in the cylinder instead of the beaker. We then poured the glue into the 250mL beaker. Then, we put three tablespoons of borax into the 500mL beaker and put in 100mL of water into it. We then stirred until the borax dissolved. Then, we poured the borax-water solution into the glue and stirred for a couple of minutes. The glue then bonded with the solution and became some play-doh like thing.

When we looked at it we saw these unique things about it:
It looked and felt like egg whites
It could bounce like a bouncy ball (about 2- 4 feet)
It could stretch, but not that much
When you break it it’s hard to put back together
It became firm again when you put it back into the solution
It was hard on the outside but the insides were a little “gluey”

Polymers are sorta useful because they are very strong bonds with each other. 
 
If you look at the picture above you'll see that the glue and the borax connect and bond with each other, making a stronger bond and a new substance that's similar to the both of them.