POLYMERS

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POLYMERS

• By Meredith Holmberg
• MacKenzie MacHarg

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What is a polymer?

• Greek polys many, meros - part
• A polymer is a molecule composed of a repeating
  sequence of monomers (molecular unit). The units
  that make polymers can be identical or different,
  and sometimes there are thousands of them linked
  together. Polymers are all around us, in just
  about all everyday materials such as clothes,
  plastic, styrofoam,carpet and rubber.

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Our Experience

• We began our project with research on the web
• and through a book called Polymer Chemistry
• produced by the National Science Teachers
• Association.
• Our next step was to begin laboratory
  experiments. Our experiment protocols came from
  a handout called Adventures with Polymers.
• Note Surprisingly, polymers are NOT a human
  invention.
• Polysaccharides, proteins, and nucleic acids are
  polymers.
• Polymer molecules comprise the structural,
  transport, protective, and reproductive systems
  of all living things.
• Here is what we did

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Slime

• Procedure
• Measure 100mL distilled water into 5 oz paper cup
• Tare the water filled cup on the balance.
  Carefully add .5g guar gum to the water. Stir
  until dissolved. The mixture will thicken in 1-2
  minutes.
• Add 5mL saturated Borax solution and stir.
  Mixture should gel in 1-2 minutes. Make sure you
  store in air tight container.

What do you get
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Results
By combining these substances, a polymer with
properties that are elastic and gooey, is
created. This is known as SLIME!
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Silly Putty Experiment
Simply mix a 21 ration of Elmer's glue to a
starch, in this case we used borax. Keep mixing
until the substance is very thick and putty like
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Results
By combining the sticky glue to the starch you
obtain a very elastic substance known as SILLY
PUTTY!
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ConclusionWhat we Learned
Through our research and experiments with
polymers, we have learned an abundant amount
about substances that surround us everydayand
that are even inside us! Without polymers, going
about our daily activities would prove to be very
difficult. In conducting our experiments, we
learned how to cross link long linear chains of
atoms into more of a branched, net-like
structure. This resulted in our creations of
slime and silly putty. Slime and silly putty
are both non-Newtonian fluids that are dilatants,
which means that under stress they dilate or
expand.