Of Determined Purpose: May 19: Baby Diaper Experiment

All the polymer from the diaper...not much!

We had a fabulous time at gymnastics again this morning, but today just needed a little extra fun. Now, I'm the first to admit that I am NOT a science-minded person, but I do appreciate it and want my kids to experience the amazing things about science. A few days ago Koen saw I was looking at something on the computer and asked about it. I was reading an idea from http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/experiment/00000064 to take apart a diaper and look at those tiny crystals that make the diaper so effective. Koen thought it'd be great fun to take Brielle's diaper apart, so that's what we did today! Ty was more of an observer than a participant for this project.

We followed Steve Spanger's directions:

Line the table with newspaper.
Carefully cut through the inside lining of the diaper and remove all the cotton-like material.
Place the stuffing material in a large plastic bag, seal it, and shake it to loosen the powdery polymer. (There's not much so don't worry if you don't feel like you did it right)
Remove the stuffing from the bag.
Pour the polymer into a plastic clear plastic cup and fill with 1/2 cup water (4 oz).
Mix it with your finger until the mixture begins to thicken.
Observe the gel! Even turn the cup upside-down and see how it's solidified.

Steve Spangler actually does more with the experiment, but we paused here with an "I wonder" side-track. We wondered if we'd get the same results with Tysen's pull-up. We cut open Ty's pull-up and that's about when the boys lost interest. I, however, wanted to know the answer. I assumed it'd be the same results, but that wasn't the case! I added the same amount of water to the polymer from the pull-up but it never fully turned into a gel as you can see in the picture. Strange!