Silly polymer

The recipe for Silly Putty was created by James Wright of General Electric in an attempt to make a synthetic rubber compound.

The recipe for Silly Putty was created by James Wright of General Electric in an attempt to make a synthetic rubber compound.

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This began to hamper war production efforts, especially the manufacture of tires and boots. Sodium tetraborate is an ionic molecule that acts as a linker between the long chains of the polymers draw Figure 1 on the board.

Changing the ratios of polymer and sodium tetraborate solutions in your imitation Silly Putty will affect how it bounces, stretches and goos! A covalent bond Silly polymer two polymeric chains together, sometimes facilitated by another molecule.

Building blocks that can be combined in various patterns to form different types of polymers. A material made of monomer units. Procedure Background Students synthesize polymeric materials and create two different formulations of imitation Silly Putty.

Then they design new versions of the putty that satisfies one of two different requirement options: Students make their different formulations of poly vinyl alcohol by adding different amounts of sodium tetraborate saturated borax solution.

Figure 1 shows how the sodium tetraborate, the active ingredient in borax, facilitates the formation of tetrahydroxy borate through a boric acid intermediate Note: A chemical intermediate is a reaction product of one or more steps in a step-wise reaction that is not a final product in the chemical reaction.

Typically, chemical intermediates are quite reactive. These chemical intermediates help explain the step-wise mechanism for the formation of the borax cross-link detailed in Figure 2. In the first step, sodium tetraborate dissociates into sodium cations and tetraborate anions. The tetraborate anion reacts with water to produce boric acid and two hydroxide anions.

Then the boric acid reacts with one hydroxide ion to produce tetrahydroxy borate anion. The tetrahydroxy borate anion reacts with two alcohol groups in the poly vinyl alcohol backbone to make two covalent bonds linking the tetraborate ion with one polymer chain.

The two remaining hydroxyl groups attach to the boron and then react with two additional alcohol groups within an adjacent polymer chain. This reaction completes the borax cross-link and creates a covalent bond that links these polymer chains together. As the amount of tetrahydroxy borate anion shown in the third step-wise reaction increases, a higher probability exists to form more borax cross-links within the poly vinyl alcohol.

When creating their putties, students can increase the amount of tetrahydroxy borate anion by adding more sodium tetraborate solution or by stirring more vigorously to disseminate the tetrahydroxy borate anion throughout the poly vinyl alcohol matrix.

Either way, by forming more cross-links between poly vinyl alcohol chains, the material properties of the poly vinyl alcohol change, allowing students to witness their ability to influence the putty material properties.

The formation of a tetrahydroxy borate crosslink from sodium tetraborate. Make copies of the Imitation Silly Putty Worksheetone per student. With the Students Divide the class into groups of four students each. Hand out materials to each group. Direct groups to go through the following steps.

Direct groups through the following steps to make marked cups that they will use to measure the correct amounts of other ingredients: Use a graduated cylinder to add 10 mL of water to a Dixie cup.

With a pen, mark the level of the water on the outside of the cup. Add an additional 10 mL of water to the cup and mark the water level.

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Repeat this process two more times, until a total of 40 mL has been added to the cup. Then pour out the water.Changing the ratios of polymer and sodium tetraborate solutions in your imitation Silly Putty will affect how it bounces, stretches and goos!

Vocabulary/Definitions cross-link: A covalent bond linking two polymeric chains together, sometimes facilitated by . The silly putty is held together by very weak intermolecular bonds that provide flexibility around the bond and rotation about the chain of the cross-linked polymer.

If the cross-linked bonds in a polymer are permanent, it is a thermosetting plastic, even if above the glass-transition temperature (T g). Layl's Silly Milly Art. Layl has been working in polymer clay since when she started adding it to her mixed media sculptures and quilts. Now she makes Silly Millies (slice and bake millefiore canes) and uses these to make whimsical sculptures of all sizes.

This polymer is similar to silly putty (real silly putty is a polymer based on organosiloxy groups and will not dry out like this material). Stuff: * 1 gallon borax water solution in some sort of container (you provide). The polymer chains are quite flexible, and when they are particularly long, as in the case of silly putty, they can become loosely entangled around one-another.

This is what causes PDMS’s viscoelasticity. ShinyStuffCreations makes and sells funny, unique and silly polymer clay jewellery. With themes like miniature food, objects or animals the jewellery is recognisable and will put a smile on everyones face!5/5(K).