(Montreal) The Montreal Science Center tried Sunday afternoon to win a Guinness record, that of the greatest lesson of slime in the world, as part of its temporary exhibition “The science behind world records”.
Posted at 5:04 p.m.
In all, 500 people ― children and adults alike ― were invited to take part in the workshop led by chemist Yannick Bergeron, known for his science capsules for the popular science magazine Les Débrouillards.
The Guinness World Records verdict will be known on Monday morning.
“We were pleasantly surprised by the enthusiasm for our biggest lesson in slime in the world, rejoiced the director of the Science Center, Cybèle Robichaud, in a telephone interview. I think that in three days, there were no tickets left. »
But why choose the slime ? Because “he’s a big favorite with children!” “, explained M.me Robichaud, but it’s also a chemistry experiment. “We are going to mix polymers, and it will create a substance that will act, it will create a bridge to link polymer chains together. […] There is a lot of science behind the slime. »
Students will also be able to have the answer to questions such as “what is a chemical reaction?” “, ” why there slime is it so viscous? and “what ingredients can be used to make slime special? »
The ingredients of the two recipes tested on Sunday were provided by the chemical engineering department of the Polytechnic School of Montreal.
IVANOH DEMERS, La Presse archives
Creation of slime in the studios of The Press in 2020
Decode records
The “The Science Behind World Records” exhibition, open until September 5, seeks to introduce young people to the scientific method while challenging them with 50 interactive activities.
When you think of Guinness Records, you don’t think of serious scientists, but rather “the person who has the biggest fingernails, or who manages to eat the most hot dogs”, agreed Ms.me Robichaud.
But “it’s obviously very rigorous, measurable, we must be able to repeat it, it must also be quantifiable […] we are really in rigorous measures that approach the scientific method, ”she explained.
Within the exhibition, “there are activities where you rely more on memory, on the ability to observe, but you also obviously have more physical records, such as throwing the most basketballs in a moving ring in just one minute. »