Poster

Today I planned what is going to be on my poster, and what other information I need to find out to accomplish my goal.  On my poster, I will have 3 sections, History, How it works, and My own try.  This history I have already posted about, and how it works, now I need to try to make my own.  I also plan on finding out more information on how it works, so I can have a better knowledge about to exact science.  I found out how to make Moon Sand, using corn starch, water, and play sand.  I will also try using the melted wax that was talked about in The Boy Mechanic Book 2.  I predict that the corn starch experiment will work better than the melted wax.  I'll blog about my experiments later.

More History

Most people expect Moon Sand to be made out of some special kind of sand, but really it is made out normal sand.  As I said in my previous entry normal sand is made of silica and that Moon Sand is coated in a chemical compound.  When the silica compounds and the other chemical compound combine they make the sand hydrophobic.

History

Technically Moon Sand, or Magic Sand wasn't created until 1980 but water repelling sand was mentioned in The Boy Mechanic Book 2 by Popular Mechanics.  This book talks about how East Indians had thought to have created water repelling sand, by mixing sand with melted wax.  The wax would surround the sand and then it would repel the water.

presentation

Today I figured out that I am going to present this information using a poster, and it will include the information about the history and how it works.  Moon Sand is unlike regular sand; regular sand, like what you find at the beach, is a silica (SiO2), Moon Sand is sand but its reaction to water is the complete opposite.

Reference: http://chicagoacs.net/ChmShort/CS98.html