Science – Pippa @ Wigram Primary School

Mrs Hanrahan helped a lot and so did Ms Austin. Hello Bloggers it is THURSDAY, The 13TH, Of NOVEMBER, 2025!, and for this weeks science rotation number 1 – turning milk into plastic, we did just that. I made milk into plastic by just adding vinegar. I wrote this for my question. Does adding vinegar cause a chemical reaction in milk to turn it into casein plastic? and I said this for my hipothiasist. If we mix milk and vinegar I think it will make a dough like substance. Then I think it would taste sour and smell like rotten cheese. I think it might be squishy like snow. Because there will be a chemical reaction! It might look like snow or wet shredded bits of paper. these are the instructions

Heat 1 cup of milk in a microwaveable container by warming it at 50% power for 5 minutes. It should be about the same temperature as you would want milk to be for making a milo. Heat for more time if needed.

Add 4 teaspoons (tsp.) of white vinegar to a mug or other heat-resistant cup.

Add the 1 cup of hot milk to the mug. You should see the milk form white clumps (curds).

Mix the mug slowly with a spoon for a few seconds.

Stack four layers of paper towels on a hard surface that is safe to get damp.

6. Once the milk and vinegar mixture has cooled a bit, use a spoon to scoop out the curds. You can do this by tilting the spoon against the inside of the mug to let excess liquid drain out while collecting the curds in the spoon. Collect as many curds as you can in this way and put them on top of the paper towel stack.

7. Fold the edges of the paper towel stack over the curds and press down on them to absorb the liquid from the curds. Use extra paper towels if needed.

8. Knead all of the curds together in a ball of dough. This is the casein plastic.

9. If you want to make the casein plastic into something, you can color and mold it now, then leave it to dry on paper towels for at least 48 hours. Once it has dried, the casein plastic will be hard. Tip: To shape the plastic, the dough must be kneaded well.

and this is what I said for my reflection.

My hypothesis was correct because when we mixed milk and vinegar it did turn clumpy and squishy and smelt bad, but by the end it was slowly turning into milk. I saw it slowly change and was some sort of moldy yogurt when it cooled, it was breaking and delicate. I smelt like the plastic milk was moldy something? And salty and such. It felt like squishy and different and i liked it because i got to feel something new. It also felt like mushy and soft paper mussoorie. and The most interesting this was possibly the smell because it smelt clean but also it smelt like rotten vinegar. I learnt that when you mix acid with hot milk it can make a type of new substance called a chemical change and could make plastic! andi had lots of fun doing this and I hope I do this again. also hope you like it and I will see you in the next post. bye bye bloggers remember to comment bye!

here is my work slideshow.

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