Making of Glue using Milk

Glue from milk is a worth learning activity for the students to understand basic chemistry, chemical reactions and many interesting articles that can be easily found in Kitchen to make new things. The project will also help the students to learn about basic concepts of polymers, its manufacturing and properties by using simple household items.

Material Required

The material required are as following:

• A brew of milk
• Vinegar
• Baking soda

Chemistry behind the Glue formation

The basic chemistry involves can be explained in the following steps:

1. Acid reacts with milk protein and form Casein.
2. Casein molecules polymerizes to form large molecules resulting in formation of coagulates and curds.
3. Baking soda neutralizes the remaining excess acid.

Procedure of making Glue from Milk

Take 125 cm3 of milk into the beaker and add 25 cm3 of vinegar in it.

While stirring it continuously, gently heat it until small lumps begin to form.

Remove the container from heat and stir it continuously so that no more lumps could form.

Allow the curds to settle down the whey and decant some of the liquid and filter off the remainder using the filter paper and funnel.

Remove the excess liquid from the curds using the paper or cloth.

Return the solid to the empty beaker.

Add small amount of water to the it and stir.

Add half teaspoon of sodium hydrogen carbonate to neutralize remaining acid. (Observe that if bubbles of gas are appearing, then add a little more sodium hydrogen carbonate until no more bubbles appear).

The substance in the beaker is glue.