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Joke: What do you get if you cross a monomer with a monomer? Give up? YOU GET A POLYMER! (I know; I need to get out more...) |
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Chemists don't always make the funniest jokes, but they can join up a whole bunch of small molecules (monomers) and form long chains (polymers). What happens when polymers get tangled up? You'll find out with PVA and Borax... |
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Try this:
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Warning! to teachers and parents! You may need to lay down some newspaper for this one, it can get sticky and messy! RECIPE #1: Mix one film canister of white glue (add food colour if desired) to one film canister of water then mix well. Then add one film canister of a saturated solution of borax. You can pre-mix the glue with equal parts of water and then add two canisters of the diluted and colored glue before adding the borax. RECIPE #2: A simpler alternative is to pour some white PVA glue into 1/2 a cup of 4% Borax solution. Slowly stir the PVA into the borax until you can pick it up with your fingers. Wash the putty in a fresh volume of Borax until the putty is as firm as you wish. The result is a bouncing rubber ball! You have just carried out a polymerisation reaction, the idea behind the production of plastics and rayon. Many small molecules (monomers) join up as long chains (polymers) that get tangled up to produce a solid substance. |
FIND OUT MORE:-
- Try the rayon experiment and then find out as much as you can about the production of plastics.
- Can you find out about injection moulding and blow moulding?
- Which plastics can be recycled?
- The interactive pages...identify these pieces of lab equipment
- The interactive pages...weird metals and gases hide in this Periodic Table
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