Polymer Lab Group Investigation

Problem:

When cornstarch is added to borax, water, and white glue, what will the outcome be as compared to the original lab (borax, water, and white glue)?

Hypothesis:

When the cornstarch is added to borax, water, and white glue, the cornstarch will make the mixture more difficult to pull apart because it is a better cross-linker than the borax alone. This is because it can be broken down into two compounds: Amylase and Amylopectin. Amylase is the enzyme that starts the breakdown process of starch into sugar. Amylopectin is the other chemical in starch. Together they can connect the borax like a cross-linker to create a polymer. I think that the cornstarch with the borax will form a stronger link in the glue and it will break less easily. This may also make the ball bounce higher because it is stronger.

Results and Observations:

My hypothesis was partially correct. The bond between the glue was stronger. I was also incorrect. The final ball was stickier and did not bounce as high as the prior attempt. When the mixture was first combined, it stretched, but would not stay in one piece. There was much less water and borax added to the new mixture which I thought would make the ball less wet and might make it bounce higher. It proved that this was not the case. The moisture from the glue and the water made the ball very wet feeling. The cornstarch had a similar texture to flour in that it was soft, but also had chunks in it which caused the mixture to be very inconsistent and bumpy. At first, it only stuck to my hands and would not stick together similar to the texture of marshmallow. After about 10 minutes of rolling and shaping the ball, it became less sticky and would form into a ball. It was not fully dry or solid, but felt like more of a doughy texture. Because the material would not dry out, we split it in half and put one of the pieces in the refrigerator. The other half we kept out and rolled into a ball and tried to dry out as much as possible. We conducted a test to see how high the rebound of the ball was at room temperature. We lined the ball up with the 30 centimeter mark on a ruler. When we dropped the ball, it only bounced between 2-3 centimeters. This was not very surprising after creating the ball because even though it may seem like it would be a similar texture and density of the glue, borax, and water polymer, it was very different feeling in reality. After 10 minutes of being in the refrigerator, we extracted the half of the ball from the refrigerator. When we took it out we found that the outside felt glossy and smooth. The inside however, was still very sticky when we rolled it out. When this was put to the rebound test, it bounced about 2 centimeters. It was a little bit more moist than the room temperature ball. We conducted one more test with the two balls. We stretched them both out as far as they could go. They were both very pliable, but the room temperature ball stretched about 2 inches farther before snapping. As compared to the borax, water, and glue solution, this was more moist, pliable, and less bouncy. It was stronger and broke less easily. It held its shape much better than the other polymer did.

Sodium Silicate Polymer Lab Investigation

1.) Both of the polymers that we made were the same color and they were pliable. The borax and glue polymer was more of a rubber material while the sodium silicate material was more solid and grainy. The glue and borax polymer was very smooth and the sodium silicate polymer less moist.

2.) Most polymers are carbon-based, but it is possible to create a silicon-based polymer. Carbon and silicon are similar in that they are both found in Group 14 of the periodic table, but they also have many differing factors. Among them is the fact that carbon is a gas at room temperature while silicon is not. The structure of the two elements is also different.

3.) Plastics and silicone polymers are similar because they have a similar chemical makeup.

4.) I could tell when the chemical reaction had taken place when the two liquids steadily turned into a solid. They were dif

ficult to mix because of their solid quality.

5.) We could tell that the ethyl alcohol was being pressed out of the mass of crumpled solid because the sodium silicate was much more thick. The ethyl alcohol also left an alcohol smelling residue on our hands.

6.) The ball we created was thicker in diameter than the other group's ball. Their's rebounded higher than ours because of its small size, but other than that, they were identical.

In this investigation, it was found that the two liquids ethyl alcohol and sodium silicate could combine to make a solid polymer. The ethyl alcohol was much thicker than the sodium silicate. When the running water was applied to the ball at the end, it helped the sodium silicate keep the ethyl alcohol together. I think it was because the ethyl alcohol is so thick that it needs the water to balance out the density of the compound. The only possible problem we encountered was when we poured the alcohol into the sodium silicate solution. It may have been poured a little bit too quickly and that may have hindered the outcome slightly.

With the rebound test, the results from the borax, glue, and water polymer were that it bounced 9 cm at room temperature

and 6 cm after having been in the refrigerator for 10-15 minutes. In the test with the sodium silicate and alcohol, the polymer bounced 15 cm at room temperature an 10 cm when placed in the refrigerator for 10-15 minutes. I think that this result occurred because the borax and glue polymer was more rubbery and could, therefore, bounce more easily while the alcohol and sodium silicate polymer was more solid and dense. The rubbery material could bounce more easily because it was lighter and less hard than the sodium silicate polymer. I had thought that the sodium silicate would bouncy lower than the borax and glue because of its texture, but I had no anticipated the difference in the rebound.

Drugs of Abuse

Steroids

Steroids promote muscle growth, but may also lead to loss of hair and acne as well as health complications such as risks of heart attack, liver problems, and strokes. Steroids are not addictive, but can cause psychological dependence.

Cocaine

Cocaine comes from coca plants and is a stimulant which speeds up brain activity and the nervous system. Cocaine causes increased energy, decreased appetite, and increased mental ability, but it is highly addictive. Other symptoms are disturbances in heart failure, nausea, respiratory failure, strokes, and seizures.

Dissociative Drugs

PCP users often display out of control or violent behaviour. High doses can result in convulsions, coma, high fever, or death. Ketamine users report terrifying feelings while on the drug. It is used as an anesthetic in veterinarians offices. Dextromethorphan can be found in cough suppressants, and taken at high enough doses, it can have similar effects to PCP or ketamine.

Alcohol

Ethyl alcohol can cause a temporary calming or drowsy effect, but it can be highly addictive. Alcohol causes people to loose their motor skills as well as reasoning, balance, speech, reaction time, and judgement. If taken in large enough doses, it can cause vomiting, nausea, lack of physical control, loss of consciousness, and possible death.

GHB and Rohypnol

Gamma-hydroxybutyrate has a relaxing effect as well as promotes muscle growth. When taken with other drugs, GHB can cause seizures, loss of conscious, coma, and death. Rohypnol treats anxiety disorders. It is not prescribed in the US and is only sold illegally in this country because, when mixed with other drugs, it can cause death. This can be a “date rape” drug because it is tasteless, colorless, and odorless. Victims may be physically unable to resist a person and cannot recall prior events the next day.

Hallucinogens

Hallucinogens cause hallucinations that make people feel, hear, and see things that are not actually there. They may also cause rapid mood swings. Physical effects are dilated pupils, high temperature, increased heart rate, increased blood pressure, sweating, loss of appetite, sleeplessness, dry mouth, and tremors.

Heroin

Heroin causes a momentary rush of pleasure followed by a few hours of drowsiness. It also causes vomiting, nausea, and severe itching. It is extremely addictive and effects after stopping heroin include, restlessness, bone and muscle pain, insomnia, diarrhea, vomiting, and cold flashes.

Inhalants

These chemicals can be found in aerosol sprays, cleaning fluids, glue, paint, pain thinner, gasoline, propane, nail polish remover, marker pens, and correction fluid. Inhalants cause immediate brain damage or sudden death.

Marijuana

Comes from Cannabis sativa (the hemp plant) and is the most commonly used drug in the United States. It causes a calm or euphoric feeling to the user, but it is soon replaces with sleepy or depressed feelings. Marijuana impairs memory as well as attention span, coordination, and balance, and gives the user a slow reaction time.

MDMA

MDMA is a stimulant and hallucinogen. It can cause both energizing effects as well as distortions in perception and time. It also causes chills, muscle cramping, involuntary teeth clenching, and reductions in mental capabilities. Overdosing causes panic attacks, loss of consciousness, and even seizures. People who take MDMA are prone to dehydration, hyperthermia, and heart or kidney failure.

Methamphetamine

Methamphetamine can cause mental alertness and increased energy, but have toxic effects on the brain. High doses can raise body temperature to lethal levels and can also cause convulsions. It is highly addictive and long term users may experience violent behavior, anxiety, insomnia, paranoia, delusions, and psychological dependency to the drug.

Nicotine

Nicotine acts as a stimulant or a sedative and causes a soothing effect. Quitting smoking is complicated by intense cravings, irritability, and sleep disturbances. Tobacco is responsible for 30% of all cancer related deaths and 90% of all lung cancer related deaths. It is also responsible for many other types of cancer and can lead to heart disease, stroke, emphysema, and chronic bronchitis.

The way all of these have such an intense effect on the brain is through neurotransmitters that flow through the reward pathways of the brain. Neurons send messages to each other to get to the brain. This is possible because the neurons send chemicals through the body and when drugs of abuse are sent through these passageways, they send the symptoms described above through the body and to the brain. The essential organs are sometimes effected by the drugs taken and can have a fatal effect on the person taking the drug. The reward pathways to the brain is reached through a matrix of nerves that lead to the brain. This is what makes drugs of addiction so dangerous because even just trying something once could change the chemical makeup in your body for the worst.

Bill Nye the Science Guy

There were many, incredible, life changing inventions through science that have lead to hundreds of other discoveries, and these are just a few of the ones I observed.

Periodic table: was invented to teach students about the elements and
after all of the know Chemicals were written down, it was discovered
that many of them have similar qualities. That now makes up the
current periodic table.

Electricity: First in this experiment, pot ash was melted. He ran one of his biggest battery to
the pot ash and it burned and pure potassium was the result. This was the beginning of finding out what elements made up a structure.

1850's-different items burn in different colors when under great heat.
Specrascope was placed over a flame and many colors were present. Every
element burns a different color. They found that when they did the
same thing with the sun, there was the color for sodium in the sun.

JJ Thompson found that one could find a particular piece of an atom.
He was using a crooks tube in his experiments. 1897 when the crooks
tube is used as he used it, he found that what he saw was the electron
stream.

Gilbert Luis began the revolution of compounds.

X-Rays radiation. A number of scientists found that...
1896 various minerals created radiation. (uranium) paper, uranium, photo sheet.

Curry: tried to identify which elements made uranium radioactive and
found two new elements.

Alfa and beta particles and gamma rays; they have given us the ability
to know how old the earth is and power our satellite in space

Johns hiat discovered plastic. Polymers are atoms that are powerful
and creates fibers that are much stronger than natural fibers.

Buckey Balls the molecules are clusters. Carbon nano tubes are the
stiffest materials in the world. 100 times stronger than steel. Can be
used for almost anything.nano technology is creating an object or
molecule from scratch. The atoms have to self assemble.