Observations, Results, and Conclusions
In its liquid form, the sodium silicate was a clear, syrupy substance. The ethyl alcohol smelled extremely strong. When we mixed the water glass with the ethyl, a reaction took place immediately. The substances began to solidify and clump together on the stirrer, leaving some liquid and chunks of polymer at the bottom. The polymer was white and extremely brittle and crumbly. The ball seemed to be more compact than our polymer on Tuesday. The surface of the polymer was wet, and it was difficult to mold into a ball.
Comparing and contrasting the two polymers we created, it's easy to see distinctions in the two. The first polymer was much more like a gel, and extremely malleable and soft. The polymer we created today almost had the consistency of wet sugar, and was difficult to mold and split. It was a slightly darker shade than that of Tuesday's polymer, and it bounced an average of more than 10 cm higher as well. However, there were some definite similarities between the two. They both took on a whitened color, and both had bouncy properties. Chemically, the same process occurred when the solutions combined, causing the monomers to bond together and become more solid.
Carbon and Silicone are both able to make polymer bonds because they have similar chemical structures. They are both solids in the non-metal family, meaning they have very similar structures. Because Plastics are made of carbon-based polymers, and silicone is a similar element, then silicone polymers would be similar to carbon polymers.
It was easy to see that a chemical reaction had taken place when the two liquids mixed because they began to mend together and change their phase of matter. The liquid that came out of the crumpled mess would probably have been the ethyl, because it smelled like alcohol and didn't damage our hands when we handled it.
We measured our ball against Table 7's ball. There's was larger, lumpier, and less translucent than ours. It also had an average 20 cm rebound for both tests, as opposed to our average rebounds of 19 cm for the heated test and 17 cm for the cooled test.
My hypothesis was supported in all facets of the experiment, except for the initial coloration of our silicone polymer. Because both of the liquids were clear, I predicted a clear polymer, as opposed to the off-white that our polymer actually was. One thing I thought was interesting in this experiment was the different rebound of the silicone ball as compared to the quarters of the glue-based ball. The averages were higher in the silicone ball probably because the silicone seemed more compact and hard, while the glue quarter was soft and loose.
Overall, this experiment and the experiment on Tuesday well demonstrate what can be done with polymers in an interactive way.
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