Telling Time with SLIME

      Hello and welcome to my portfolio, I am a Junior in Global Citizenship Experience lab school. For this year's STEAM course, we are in a class called "Light, Sound, & Time". Currently, we are in the unit "Time" and have been researching and learning about the passage of time, time in space, time dilation, etc. In this class, we got to talk to Taylor Hoyt, an astronomer that told us all about his PhD research. Recently we have been researching a bunch of different time-telling devices and learning how they work, and for this project, we were tasked with designing our own time-telling device! I hope you like mine, the Slime Clock!

Slime Clock, NM, 2023

                                                Slime Clock video, NM, 2023

Script:

First sketch of the Slime Clock. NM, 2023

This is the Slime Clock. The slime clock is inspired by the hourglass, a time-telling device that was invented right around the same time as the mechanical clock, in 8th century AD. The Slime Clock and the Hourglass are similar because they both use the idea of something slowly and steadily moving to the bottom of a glass container. They are also similar in the way that you can flip them to restart the clock! The slime clock uses a long vertical cylinder glass container. The container is see-through and has markings for the hour as well as tick marks for each half hour. I chose these units because I made this clock for artists, and I believe they need to know the hours and half hours that pass when they are making art, rather than minutes or days. Inside the container is a weight and clear/transparent slime, so that you are able to clearly see the weight inside. The weight starts at the top of the container, and it slowly sinks down to the bottom, at a steady pace through the slime. 

"Measurments & calculations", NM, 2023

This works because as a slime maker myself, I know how to control the density of slime. If you want to make this yourself, you need to make thick clear slime so that the weight will move slowly, and you will be able to see the weight inside. In order to make thick slime you will need to mix borax activator solution with good clear glue (I suggest clear Elmer's glue), knead it, and continue adding activator until it is at a good high density (tough/thick). Of course, you can add a small bit of food coloring or sequins/glitter, as long as you are still able to see the weight. You need a clear glass (or clear plastic) cylinder container to put the slime in, and then, by measuring and marking how far down the weight goes at each hour, you are able to create an accurate time-telling device. At this point, you just need to close the container and your Slime Clock is ready! The Slime Clock works better than an hourglass because it is marked with the time, so it gives you the actual hour it is. Instead of telling you when one hour has passed, it can tell you a total of 24 hours. An inconvenience with the Slime Clock is that the slime will get less dense over time, so it is important to add a certain amount of activator to the slime at scheduled times. 


I came up with the Slime Clock with an artist in mind like myself, because I spend hours in my craft

         "Slime Clock sketch", NM, 2023

room making art or crafting, and I often lose track of time because I get so wrapped up in what I'm doing. If I am able to have an art-related time-telling device in the room, I would gladly look at it and note how long I've been working. Usually, I just bring my phone and computer Inside with me, but the problem with that is if I have paint, glue, or slime on my hands, it's difficult to open my phone or computer to check the time, and I also might just forget to check the time. So it is helpful to have something showing the time right in front of me, and even better that it is cool to look at and related to art! It is also a way to remind me to work on my art because when I use my phone for the time, it will usually distract me by leading me to use social media or other distracting apps. The Slime Clock was designed for teenage artists that get distracted easily. It shows empathy because artists can have some struggles related to time when making art.

This was a very fun cool project and I enjoyed designing my own time-telling device! I really want to

 try and make a Slime Clock myself, so I'll be doing that very soon. I had a lot of fun researching other time-telling devices like the hourglass and the incense clock and getting inspiration from all the clocks I learned about in this unit. I am proud of my video and overall very happy with how this project turned out. I wish I could have made the Slime Clock and given a whole tutorial, but that is probably for another day. Thank you for visiting my portfolio post!

Citations

“15 Timekeeping Devices and Inventions in History • PAYMO.” Paymo, 9 Jan. 2023, https://www.paymoapp.com/blog/timekeeping-devices/.

Ripley's Believe It or Not!, et al. “How the Hourglass Shaped Human History.” Ripley's Believe It or Not!, 12 Nov. 2019, https://www.ripleys.com/weird-news/hourglass-history/.

Ross Yaylaian .f67943c9-aee5-4b4c-9cf0-7bd937c850f4{fill:#82b964;} fact checked by Jamie Frater, et al. “10 Ingenious Ancient Timekeeping Devices.” Listverse, 21 June 2014, https://listverse.com/2013/06/26/10-ingenious-ancient-time-keeping-devices/.