Eco-Friendly Plastic Dominos

For those who missed our last post, our delve into chemistry led us to a "recipe" for "milk plastic." We learned that if you heat cow's milk and then add an acid such as vinegar or lemon juice a chemical reaction takes place rearranging the molecules into a polymer. When the liquid is removed and the new substance dries completely it hardens into plastic. We tried this experiment and hardened our plastic into small rectangles which we turned into dice. Check our our pictures and "how to" below.

We used 2 cups of 2% milk, 8 T of white vinegar plus extra for soaking, and a silicone mold.

After heating the milk and mixing the vinegar in, the milk began to curdle. We strained the liquid away, blotted the new solid in paper towels, then let it bathe in more vinegar for another hour before straining and blotting a second time.

Next we pressed our compound into the silicone molds and let them dry for 24 hours before removing them to dry an additional 24 hours.

Once our "dominos" had dried into hard plastic we used a sharpie to make our domino design. They compound shrunk a bit as it dried, so our dominos are travel sized... but we are glad to report that the experiment worked, and there's hope for a more eco-friendly plastic option!