The experiment that we had originally planned to create a polymer out of milk, vinegar, lemon juice, and water. Unfortunately, due to some grouchy cafeteria workers, this experiment could not be run without whole milk that was not given to us. As a group, we just decided to alter the polymer labe last Tuesday, with glue and borax. With the glue acting as the subject, and borax acting as the solute. Our objective was to see if halving the borax, or doubling the borax would make the difference for a different type of polymer.
New Hypothesis
1/2 Borax: If the borax is halved for the experiment, then the polymer will become more liquidy and harder to grasp.
Double Borax: If the borax is doubled for the experiment, then the polymer will be much more firm and hard to mold.
Results of the Experiment:
1/2 Borax: After adding one teaspoon into the water, it almost immediately dissovled, easily having enough space for the powder. The solution was added to the glue, and what happened was somewhat disgusting. The glue started sticking to the rod and would not let go. It was very liquidy, and there was water left over from the solution. It was very uncertain whether or not the 1/2 borax was enough to make the glue polymer solid enough to bounce for the test. After about five minutes of stirring constantly, the glue seemed hard enough to create into a ball. The characteristics varied much from the other polymer
Characteristics (physical):
REALLY sticky
Gooey
Loose
Unlayered
Squishy
Modable
The bounciness test was under way. We would dro pthe ball from a height of 30 cm and see how high it bounces. This is repeated for five total tests. The 1/2 borax ball wasn't the hardest thing in the world, so it wasn't expected to bounce that high. I didn't even expect it to bounce, just to splat. But, the test showed that I was wrong. It did bounce, but not anything phenominal.
Bounciness Test
1: 7 cm
2: 7 cm
3: 6 cm
4: 7 cm
5: 8 cm
Average: 7 cm
A pitiful 7 centimeters. The polymer seemed to get harder over time as well, but not by a significant degree. The polymer was very sticky, and left residue glue on my hands. I am picking at it as I type this. The polymer was not my favorite of the two, for the double borax was a bit more freindly to the hands, and much cooler.
Double Borax Results: We stuck with the original water and just added three more teaspoons of borax to make the control 2 cm doubled up to a total of four cm (with the extra one cm from the other test earlier). Adding it to a new supply of glue, the water was sucked in by the glue, but not all of it. The residue solution was present again, and the glue polymer was sticking to the stirring rod, similar to the 1/2 borax test. Originally, I thought that the characteristics shared by the two polymers would disprove my double borax hypothesis. But, the substance hardened after a few minutes, and becoming a firmer type of polymer, sort of. It was surronded by a layer of liquid glue, with the firmer layer inside. You could even see the water moving as you held it.
Characteristics
Layered
Somewhat Moldable
Not Squishy
Somewhat Sticky
Hard
Stuck together well
We tried the bounciness test for this polymer as well
Bounciness Test
1: 9 cm
2: 11 cm
3: 13 cm
4: 12 cm
5: 13 cm
Average: 11.6 cm
Conclusion: Overall, my hypothesis was correct on both accounts. The polymers in the lab were a close match to what I described them ass, 1/2 borax being liquidy and drippy, and double borax being frimer, but still moldable. The 1/2 borax did have an interesting trait that I had not predicted, which was its superior stickiness. It seemed to act as glue for, sticking to a surface for a prolonged period of time. Since there wasn't enough borax, it didn't make the polymer have different characteristics than glue. Meawhile, overdosing the borax seemed to create something that wasn't the opposite of glue, although it would be a good hypothesis. The doubled borax wasn't absorbed fully, since water can only abosrb a certain amount of powder. So, the polymer still showed stickiness (though not as powerful as the half borax), somewhat squishy, and filled with liquid. But, in the end, my hypothesis was correct.
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