Hydrophobic sand DIY

Cool homemade hydrophobic sand!

Safe­ty pre­cau­tions

Per­form this ex­per­i­ment only un­der adult su­per­vi­sion in a well-ven­ti­lat­ed area.

Reagents and equip­ment

  • glass con­tain­er;
  • fine sand;
  • wa­ter-re­sis­tant shoe pol­ish;
  • spoon.

Step-by-step in­struc­tions

Pour some fine sand into a glass con­tain­er and treat it with wa­ter-re­sis­tant shoe pol­ish. Mix thor­ough­ly. Leave the sand to dry for two days, stir­ring oc­ca­sion­al­ly.Your cool hy­dropho­bic sand is ready!

Process de­scrip­tion

Shoe pol­ish con­tains sub­stances that are "scared” of wa­ter. Such sub­stances are called hy­dropho­bic. They re­pel wa­ter and pre­vent the sand from get­ting wet. When you pour the treat­ed sand into wa­ter, a lay­er of air forms be­tween them. This al­lows the sand to re­main dry and loose.

Try it