Water Gel Crystals Lab

McKenna Krul, Elise Harmer, Maddy Stewart, Claire Green

Period 1

Background:
For this lab, we used sodium polyacrylamide crystals. Sodium polyacrylamide is an
extremely absorbent polymer. Super absorbent polymers can absorb great quantities of liquid
compared to their own mass. When the sodium polyacrylamide crystals are combined with
water. The water is pulled to the center of the polymer through osmosis. “The sodium
polyacrylamide absorbs water until there is an equal concentration of water inside and outside.”
(gwinnett.k12.ga.us)
There are many uses for sodium polyacrylamide crystals. Because of its ability to absorb
water, sodium polyacrylamide could be used in many things such as diapers or cosmetic
products. It can also be used for agricultural purposes. Sodium polyacrylamide has the ability to
preserve water. This could be used for potted plants or to keep soil moist.

Question:
Which water will the gel crystals absorb the most mass from: Volcanic, Fiji, or Tap water?

Hypothesis:
We predict that the Fiji Water will absorb by the crystals the most because it is the most pure out
of the three water types.

Materials:

• 3 Ziploc Bags
• 100 mL of Fiji water
• 100 mL of Tap water
• 100 mL of Volcanic water
• 3 pinchfuls of water gel crystals
• Sharpie or Pen (for labeling)
• Weigh Boats
• Scale

Procedure:
1. Lay out 3 Ziploc Bags
2. In each Bag, put pinch of the Water Gel Crystal (Weigh the crystals before placing in the
bag)
3. Write down weight of plastic bag
4. Weigh out the mass of water in each bag
5. Start with putting 100 mL of FIJI water into one of the plastic bags
6. Let the bag sit overnight and allow crystals to form
7. Repeat steps 3 and 4 for the Volcanic Water and regular Tap Water
8. The next morning: Remove expanded crystals from each bag and weigh them
9. Subtract the original mass of crystals from the expanded mass to find how much water was
absorbed

Data:

• There are 92.3 g of water per bag

• At first, the crystals are very tiny and a white/clear color. They are solid and hard and all
different shapes.

• After reacted with the water, the crystals became clear in color, and squishy/slimy. They grew
massively in size and remain the same random shapes.

Lab Observations
 Type of Original Gel Weight of Bag after Expanded Water
Water Crystal Mass Crystal Expansion Crystal Mass Absorbed in
Crystals
Volcanic .16 g 101.32 g 27.21 g 27.05 g water
Fiji .14 g 98.48 g 17.17 g 17.03 g water
Tap .15 g 96.31 g 20.32 g 20.17 g water

Analysis:
For our results, we concluded that the volcanic water was absorbed the most by the
crystals. This differed from our hypothesis that Fiji, the purest water, would be absorbed the
most. The tap water was the second most absorbed, followed by the Fiji water. We predicted that
tap water would be least absorbed by the crystals. These results were shocking to us. There were
multiple possible errors in our lab. One main error in our lab was when we took the crystals out
to weigh them, they had excess water on them which added to the mass.

Conclusion:
In our lab, we conducted an experiment to test which type of water would be most
absorbent by the water gel crystals: Fiji, Tap, or Volcanic. We put the crystals and water into
ziplock bags overnight, and the next morning, weighed the masses of the expanded crystals to
observe which water was the most absorbent. In our data, we fund that the Volcanic Water was
absorbed the most by the water gel crystals.Our original hypothesis was wrong, as we predicted
Fiji water would absorb the most.

Citations:
“What in World Is Sodium Polyacrylate.” Untitled,
www.gwinnett.k12.ga.us/McConnellMS/custar/research_webpages/Web_Page_Folders_Mornin
g_Class/pschwab_research/pschwab_index.htm.

“Commercial Uses of Sodium Polyacrylate.” Sciencing, sciencing.com/commercial-uses-

sodium-polyacrylate-6462516.html.
“Super Water-Absorbing Polymers.” Carolina Biological Supply: World-Class Support for
Science & Math, www.carolina.com/teacher-resources/Interactive/water-absorbing-
polymers/tr10869.tr.