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Project Summary
| Difficulty | 5 |
| Time required | Average (about one week) |
| Safety | Adult supervision required for experiments using boiling water. |
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Sponsor
| Sponsored by a generous grant from the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation |
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| * Note: This is an abbreviated project idea, without notes to start your background research or a procedure for how to do the experiment. You can identify abbreviated project ideas by the asterisk at the end of the title. If you want a project idea with full instructions, please pick one without an asterisk. |
Abstract
Some plastics undergo an unusual transition, from a hard, glassy state to a soft, rubbery state, with increased temperature. For this project, you should do background research on the effects of temperature on different types of plastics. Make sure that you understand the difference between thermosetting and thermoplastic polymers. You should also look for information on the glass transition temperature (Tg) for different plastics. Pure polyvinyl acetate has a Tg of 28°C (about 82°F). You can make a sample of this polymer by pouring some Elmer's Glue-All into a plastic bowl or plate and allowing it to evaporate for several days. Cut strips of the resulting material for your experiments. Try dipping the strip into warm water and immediately wrap it around a pen or pencil to make a spiral. Dip it in ice water. Describe the properties of the polymer at the two temperatures. What happens if the spiral is reheated? Additives in the glue may shift the Tg away from that of pure polyvinyl acetate. Use water heated to different temperatures to determine the Tg for your polymer. Other plastics, such as polystyrene (recycling code #6), have higher Tg's. With an adult's help, you can investigate these materials using boiling water. (To raise the temperature of boiling water slightly higher, add a few tablespoons of salt. Search on "colligative properties" to find out how this works.) (Goodstein, 2004, 105–109)Bibliography
Goodstein, M., 2004. Plastics and Polymers Science Fair Projects: Using Hair Gel, Soda Bottles, and Slimy Stuff. Berkeley Heights, NJ: Enslow Publishers.Variations
- For more science project ideas in this area of science, see Chemistry Project Ideas.
Last edit date: 2007-03-08 14:33:05
Career Focus
If you like this project, you might want to think about career opportunities in
Chemistry.
Everything in the environment, whether naturally occurring or of human design, is composed of chemicals. Chemists search for and use new knowledge about chemicals to develop new processes or products. Learn more about this career: Chemist.
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