Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

My 6th grade science fair project is " How do Scratch n Sniff Stickers work?", So now I need to do an experiment on "Microencapsulation".
In this process the fragrance is usually an "Oil" which is surrounded by a plastic shell and then dripped onto paper. (you probably know this).

Does anyone have any idea how I can do this process at home?

Could Liquid Starch be used as the outer shell and some type of liquid candy for the fragrance? Or am I waaaaaayy off base?

Any help you can give me would be greatly appreciated. The original question sounded so simple, but it's to late to change projects now.

I can't wait to read what you guys come up with.

Thank you in advance for your help,

atwitsend (and her mother)

Hi,

Doing an experiment on the "micro" scale would be difficult. How about if we size it up and show how the concept works but with bigger tools ?

I am not an experiment in microencapsulation. So I went around on the web and read about it. This is what one website explained:
"The basic idea behind scratch-and-sniff is to take the aroma-generating chemical and encapsulate it in gelatin or plastic spheres that are incredibly small -- on the order of a few microns in diameter. When you scratch the sticker, you rupture some of these spheres and release the smell. The smell is essentially held in millions of tiny bottles, and you break a few of the bottles every time you scratch the sticker. The tiny bottles preserve the fragrance for years."

So reading the last sentence you see that in order to replicate it on the macro scale you would need to just make many "fragrance holders" and the rupture them.

How about balloons ? You could inflate many balloons and fill them with a small puff of potpourri drops. And then organize them in say, 10 x 10 on the floor. Then you simulate the finger nail scrapping with say a sharp object such as a cutter or a knife. Then when the baloons burst each of them should emit a smell.

Maybe it works maybe it doesn't. Think on the same lines though: macro scale to describe micro things.

Good luck !

Um someone did this when I was in grade six they melted candles and added a fragrance to it then the took the melted candle pool and placed it on wax paper to let it freeze again into wax and when you scratched it smelled

Thank you, Thank you very much for the help. These are great ideas. You guys are great.

Signed,

No longer atwitsend