Hey, guys, it's Elizabeth from
the "Why do we have snot?"
episode here to explain how I
made the fake snot in the video
and why it looks so real.
So you take 1/2 a
cup of boiling water
and you can just
use the microwave.
You take it off the heat
so it's not scalding
and you add about three
packets of gelatin.
Now, you might have to play
around with this amount.
I did.
But you gently stir it so
that the gelatin powder
can soften a bit in the water.
And this is really important
because here, the water
molecules are actually
binding to the gelatin.
Now, if it's super hot, let it
sit and cool for just a minute
and then add a 1/4 cup
of light corn syrup.
Stir with a fork to watch the
magic or the grossness happen.
Now, in the other
video, I talked
about how real snot is made
up of proteins called mucin.
So those are the guys in
orange with a bunch of sugars
branching off of it,
the guys in black.
Now, gelatin is also a protein.
It's not mucin but
it is a protein.
And when you add water to
it, those water molecules
end up cross-linking all of
the gelatin together like this.
Now, you don't want
the water scalding.
Otherwise, it'll break
or denature the proteins.
But that's why you want stir
the gelatin in very well.
Corn syrup is literally sugar
so when you add that to the mix,
you're getting something
that's pretty similar to mucus,
both molecularly and visually.
If you decide to try
this recipe out, try
tweaking some of
the elements, like
how much of the
ingredients you use
or maybe try using Jell-O
instead of plain gelatin
and let me know how it
goes in the comments below.
Leave your stories,
links, pictures, videos--
and if you have any
questions about snot
or the awesome related research
that's happening at MIT, leave
those in the comments, as well.
