We partnered again this year with the miSci Science Festival of the Capital Region.
Saturday was bustling at the Science Festival! With multiple kids stopping by our booth to see the experiments, Raj and Lee were ready to demonstrate just how cool our polyurethane foams can be to the young, inquisitive minds.
“Our experiment was called Fun with Foam,” says Raj. “It was a demonstration of a polyurethane reaction to create a rigid foam from two liquids (a polyol and an isocyanate). The polyol contains a blowing agent (a low boiling solvent), which is heated by the reaction to form a gas that is trapped in the bubbles. The foam grew from a volume of 60 mL to ~600 mL in just 10 minutes! It took about 20 seconds to mix the liquids, 45 seconds to see the bubbles forming, 90 seconds to have the foam overflowing the beaker, and 3 mins for it to gel. After 10 minutes, it was harden enough to handle.”
And to make it more visual and engaging, food coloring was added to give the foams a variety of hues, and the kids were asked to draw in their initials or add a design before it hardened.
Such a fun day!
