VERNAL EQUINOX SLIME

Here at STEAMWORKS we’re always looking for new and exciting slime ideas. While experimenting with black and gold slime we started linking it to day and night, and being so close to the March 19th decided it would be a great idea to teach children about the Vernal Equinox while having messy fun!

Slime instructions

We use a good glug of PVA glue, a little bicarbonate of soda and contact lens fluid containing boric acid. It’s all there in our previous slime blog. 

Take two pots, adding black acrylic paint to the glue in one and yellow to the other. 

Add a teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda then enough lens fluid to start to bring the slime away from the sides of the bowl. Sprinkle in some glitter to add sunshine sparkle or night sky magic. 

Now twist the two together – equinox slime!

What is an equinox?

The word equinox come from the Latin, meaning equal night, and refers to the time when the day and night are almost equal in length. This happens twice a year around March 20^th(Spring or Vernal Equinox) and September 20^th(Autumnal Equinox).

Why does it happen?

The Earth orbits the Sun – this takes one year and gives us our seasons. 

• The Earth spins around its axis, which runs from the north pole to the south pole. The axis of the Earth is tilted. 
• The axis is tilted either away from or towards the sun, so that one of the hemispheres has a longer day than the other. 
• Twice a year, in March and September, we reach a point where neither hemisphere is tilted towards the sun, which is exactly over the equator – the equinoxes. 

You can find visual demonstrations of this on YouTube, or why not try it yourself with a torch and a ball on a skewer! Have a look at http://thesmarthappyproject.com/what-is-an-equinox/to see how.