Plasticine – what it’s like

Take a look at this…..

What’s it like?

Well (apart from its greenness) it is cool and quite hard, although if you dig your fingernail into it, you will leave a mark.

Ok.  Now roll it into a ball.

Not easy, is it?  But beaver away.  Squash and squish it.

Roll it round and round.

Pull it; tug it; stretch it.

Roll it into a long snake.

A longer snake.

An even longer snake.

What do you notice about its texture now?  About its temperature?  (Remember how one of the places most sensitive to temperature is just above your lip.)

Are the properties the same now as they were when we began?

No – now the plasticine is warm and soft and no longer cool and hard.  Easy to squish into a ball.

Incidentally.  The word plasticine has a bit of a clue.  But have you ever thought about what materials plasticine is made from?

Plastic; a man-made material made from oil.  Plasticine; a man-made material with petroleum jelly (petrol; oil) as one of its ingredients.

So, what’s it like – plasticine?

Apart from being something that makes your hands go red…..(or blue or green)

More to the point; what can it be used for?