Answer 1:
From what I can tell, the super glue undergoes
what is called a polymerization reaction
when you mix it with either borax or baking soda
in the presence of water. Polymerization is
just when a lot of individual molecules link up to
become one big chain. This ScienceLine answer
explains a little bit about the reaction with
super glue and baking soda:
super glue and baking soda.
Borax has the chemical formula
Na2[B4O5(OH)4]ยท8H2O,
so there are many OH groups which could act
as nucleophiles and begin the
polymerization reaction. So I am guessing that
both borax and baking soda will cause the super
glue to polymerize and turn into a hard
substance like plastic.
As for why borax gains weight whereas baking
soda loses weight, I am not exactly sure. Mass
is always conserved in a chemical reaction
(excluding nuclear reactions), so any mass (and
hence weight, since we are on Earth and can assume
a constant gravitational force) that appears to be
lost or gained by the solid has to go somewhere
else. The scienceLine answer I linked above says
that water and carbon dioxide is produced from
the reaction of baking soda (sodium bicarbonate)
and water which in turn generates NaOH which can
start the polymerization reaction. It may be
that this is where the lost mass is going! That
is, it might be that the "lost" mass is being
turned into water which is evaporating into the
atmosphere and carbon dioxide gas.
So when you weight the solid products of
reaction it seems like mass has been lost when
really it has just been transformed into
another chemical which happened to float away
into the atmosphere. In the case of borax, I
speculate the opposite is happening. Perhaps the
polymerization reaction with borax and super glue
uses more of the surrounding water to make the
solid polymer product. Thus the end result seems
to have gained mass since it has taken up water
molecules from its surroundings.
|