Hypothesis: It will be much like the experiment before. It will be a rubbery, squishy, and solid mass.
Results/Observations: At first, my lab group thought that the two labs would wield similar results. But the differences between the two labs became apparent not too far into the investigation. When we combined the sodium silicate and ethyl alcohol it just looked like very cloudy water. But when we started stirring it, we saw imediat changes. It looked all crinkly on the top, and as we kept stirring, it become a crystallized pile. (look below)
We poured the crumbly mixture onto Rory's hand and she squeezed it all together to form a ball, occasionally adding water. The ending result was a hard, condensed white ball. (look below)
In the end, while it was still a polymer, this investigation resulted in something much different than before. Not only were they made differently with different ingredients, but the first was rubbery and squishy, the second result was hard, dense, and reminded us of a bouncy ball. Also, the second result was much more bouncy than the first, having an average of 21 cm when room temperature, and an average of 18.25 cm after it had been in the refridgerator for 10 minutes. The first expirement only bounced up 9 cm and 15 cm when it was cold.Questions
What characteristics are similar between your two types of polymers you have made? Differences?
Some similarities would be the fact that they are both white, moldible, and bouncy. But the second polymer was much more bouncy and a lot harder to mold. In addition, the second one was made much faster.
Most commercial polymers are carbon based. What similar properties to silicon and carbon share that may contribute to their abilities to polymerize?
They can bond very easily because they can give or take 4 electrons.
Plastics are made of organic (carbon based) polymers. What similarity does the silicone polymer share with the plastics?
They can both bond easily.
How did you know that a chemical reaction had taken place when the two liquids where mixed?
When we put the two liquids together it immediately became cloudy and when we started stirring it it became crinkled at the top and changed consistency.
How could you find out what liquid was pressed out of the mass of crumbled solid as you formed the ball?
You could smell it to see if it smelled like the ethyl alcohol(alcohol has a very strong smell that can burn your nose), or if you had the equipment, you could use different chemicals to see whether or not it was the alcohol or not.
Conclusion: I rejected my hypothesis because it was way off. My group thought that since we were making a polymer, the result would be similar to the one we had for the first experiment. Instead, it was almost the opposite! Instead of the soft, putty like result we have for the first experiment, we got an extremely bouncy, hard, slightly crumbly, semi-translucent ball. The only problems that we had was over/under measuring the sodium silicate. This experiment can be aplied to real life because this was really the first time I have ever worked with dangerous chemicals. While the sodium silicate just made your skin burn, it was very good practice for the future. Also, we got to learn more about polymers and how they differ.
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