Atomic Power

In science we watched a “Trinity and Beyond” video on atomic power. I learned many things about the history of atomic bombs and the science behind them.

On July 16, 1945 the first atomic bomb was exploded. This was called the Trinity test. Trinity was the code name for a nuclear weapon test. It was an atmospheric test, which means that people wanted to see what damages would be done to the atmosphere after it went off. This bomb used fission. Fission is when the nucleus of an atom splits into smaller parts. This releases high amounts of energy, giving you an atomic explosion.

Here is a picture of the Trinity test:

Here is a picture of what Fission looks like:

Lets back it up to see where atomic power got started. In March 1938 Hitler invades Austria and discovers fission.

On December 2, 1942, the man-made sustained nuclear chain reaction was successful and the production of plutonium starts.

A little fact to know about atomic bombs is that uranium, plutonium, and tritium are the only elements used in nuclear power.

One nuclear test performed was at Bikini Lagoon. It was called Operation Crossroads and was an atmospheric nuclear weapon test series conducted in the summer of 1946 at Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands. The tests consisted of two detonations, a low altitude test and a shallow water test. A planned third test, a deep underwater detonation, was canceled after the second test. The series was intended to study the effects of nuclear weapons on warships, equipment, and material. These tests would provide important information on the survivability of warships in the event of nuclear war.

In January 1951 the U.S. performed 126 tests at the first test site in Nevada.

On August 29, 1949 the Soviets explode thier first atomic bomb. They constructed buildings to study the effects of the bomb.
Here is a video of the bomb:

Here is a video of the first hydrogen bomb, “Ivy Mike” test:

On 31 January 1950 President Truman publicly declared the U.S. intention to develop a hydrogen bomb. The motivation for this declaration was the Soviet Union's first fission bomb during the previous. This added to the rapidly growing Cold War tensions, created grave concern at the highest levels of Washington about the United States being overtaken in a nuclear arms race by the Soviet Union.

The hydrogen bomb uses Fusion. Fusion is when you fuse lighter elements together in conditions with high pressure and hot temperatures.

Here is a picture of what fusion looks like:

These were just a few things about atomic power learned in the video. Over all, I enjoyed it very much and look forward to researching even more about atomic energy.

ASU Chemistry Lab

Today i went on a field trip to the ASU chemistry lab. I enjoyed the trip very much and learned a lot. Everyone who instructed me during the tour of the lab did a great job. Here is a picture of the DLC8 watching Gary, (a scientist at ASU), teach us about how liquid nitrogen can deflate a balloon because the freezing cold temperature of the liquid nitrogen causes the air inside the balloon to condense and shrink the balloon.

Here is a few other pics of what this liquid nitrogen-balloon experiment looks like:

While at ASU I got to witness a glass blower at work. She was very talented and skilled at what she does. She makes all of the custom glass wear that you use when experimenting in science. She has a blow torch which she uses to shape the glass, and she has to wear special glasses so that she can see the glass as she forms it. the end product she created for us was a swan, and it was beautiful!

 We also learned about air pressure with Tim (featured below). he performed multiple tests with a tube that sucks out all of the air from an object. He crushed a can by removing the air that filled the space inside. This resulted in a crushed can because the space that the air filled had to be filled with something else, the can itself. He also used a plastic soda bottle and crushed that. 

Another one of the highlights of this field trip was when we visited a professor who worked with high voltage and electrical currents. He literally "shocked" us with 50,000 volts of electricity! This was a great experience because I felt all tingly, and watching other peoples reactions made me laugh :D

Overall, the field trip to ASU was much better than a normal day at school, because I learned a lot about chemistry.

Sodium Silicate Polymer Lab

Sodium Silicate Polymer Lab

In science today we did a lab which tested a sodium silicate polymer. The purpose of this lab was to teach us some of the differences between this polymer, and the one we mad last week with sodium borate and glue. (See previous blog posts to read about that lab) The materials we used for the lab today were:

12 mL of Sodium Silicate solution

3 mL of Ethyl Alcohol

2 Small Beakers

1 Stirring Rod

1 Graduated Cylinder

Paper Towels

My hypothesis for this lab was that silicate chains will form from the sodium silicate and ethyl alcohol, creating a solid polymer. Because sodium silicate has sodium hydroxide in it, that acts as a strong base for the polymer. The cross-linking agent will be the ethyl alcohol, which will link the monomers in chains.

The procedure for this lab was pretty basic. First, measure 12 mL of sodium silicate solution with the graduated cylinder, and then pour it into one of the small beakers. Then clean the graduated cylinder and measure 3 mL of ethyl alcohol into it. Next, pour the 3 mL of ethyl alcohol into the other small beaker, (the one that doesn’t have the sodium silicate solution in it). When ready, pour the 3 mL of ethyl alcohol into the beaker with 12 mL of sodium silicate. Stir it with a stirring rod to create the polymer. Take it out and mold it into a ball. Drop it from a height to see if it bounces. Record different characteristics of the polymer.

Here is a drawing of the beaker of alcohol being added to the beaker of sodium silicate, creating a polymer:

Here is a diagram of the sodium silicate atoms and ethyl alcohol atoms:

The Sodium silicate has 1 atom of silicon and it is bonded to 4 oxygen atoms. Ethyl alcohol has only 2 carbon dioxide atoms.

After the polymer was made into a ball, my group tested the bounciness of the polymer. The silicate polymer was very bouncy. Even bouncier then the borax polymer. Here is a venn diagram of other similarities and differences between the silicate polymer and the sodium borate polymer:

The sodium silicate polymer smelled like nail polish, was hard, heavy, crumbly, compact and dry. The borax polymer was squishy, soft, smelled like glue, was light, slimy, stretchy, and slippery. Both of these polymers were made up of other monomers and they both had a cross-linking agent.

In the end, my hypothesis was supported because if sodium silicate is added to ethyl alcohol, then it will form a solid polymer because the atoms in the monomers bonded with each other in chains. As soon as the ethyl alcohol was added, a chemical reaction occurred and the solution became a polymer. Looking at this on a molecular level you can see that when sodium silicate and ethyl alcohol are put together, the ethyl groups replace oxygen atoms in the silicate ion. Then the silicate particles begin to link up with each other to form long chains. This gives you the hard, tough, bouncy polymer in the end.

This lab taught me a lot about how there are different types of polymers. In the previous lab, the end polymer was much unlike the polymer in this lab. If you start with different bases and you use different cross-linking agents, the end polymer has many possibilities. Now I know that if I need a strong polymer, I’ll use a strong substance like alcohol, but if I want a soft polymer, I’ll use something like borax.

If I could do anything differently, I would probably have done more tests to see the characteristics of the silicate polymer. I recorded a lot, but there still was more to observe and learn from this experiment.

If I could test anything differently, I would change the cross-linking agent of the experiment or the monomers of the experiment. I would choose substances, with a strong base level, to make the strongest polymer, and I would choose substances with the weakest base level, to make the weakest polymer. From this I would learn which monomers make the best and worst polymers.

Cross-Linking Elmer's Glue With Sodium Borate (Slime Lab)

Cross-Linking Elmer's Glue With Sodium Borate (Slime Lab)

Today in science I learned about monomers, polymers, and cross-linking agents. A monomer is singular part that can be chained to other monomers to form polymers. Polymers are all around us. All plastics are polymers. A cross-linking agent is something that promotes the formation of stronger polymers usually through a chemical reaction. My group and I, (Kira Gedris and Jake Lieberman), did a lab which tested what happens when you mix water and Elmer's glue, the two monomers, with Sodium Borate (or Borax), the cross-linking agent. My hypothesis was that the monomers will react with the borax to form a solid polymer. 

These were the materials needed for the lab:

500 mL water

25 mL Elmer's glue

1 tsp. borax

2 drops food coloring

1 graduated cylinder

1 600 mL beaker

1 250 mL beaker

1 stirring rod

This was the procedure:

1. In the 600 ml beaker, measure 100ml of water

2. Add 1 tablespoon of borax powder to 100 ml of water

2. Measure 25 ml of Elmer's glue in the 250 ml beaker 

4. Measure 5 ml of water and add it to the Elmer's glue 

5. Add 2 drops of food coloring to the Elmer's glue 

6. Gently stir the glue-water solution

3. Measure 40 ml of borax solution with the graduated cylinder

8. Pour the 40 ml of borax in the glue solution 

9. Stir vigorously

10. Dump liquid and runny stuff, remove the polymer from the 250 ml beaker 

11. Observe the polymer

Here is the diagram of the structure of the elmer's glue molecules and the borax molecules and what the structure looks like when you add them together:

Here is a diagram of monomers, (water and glue), added with the cross linking agent, (borate) to create a polymer. Note: The cross-linking agent is circled:

Here is a picture showing the beaker with the polymer solution being mixed:

Here is a picture of the Borax being mixed with water:

Here is a picture of what the polymer looked like: 

These are some of the characteristics of the polymer and the analysis of the data:

Description: smells like glue, feels like a wet deflated balloon, and it's very squishy

Slime Rating(from 1-5, 1 being the least slimy and 5 the most): 5

Slow Poke Test: When the slime was poked slowly, the finger went into the goop easily and then the slime molded around the finger

Quick Poke Test: The finger didn't go through the slime. It glided off to the side of the polymer.

Slow Pull test: The smile pulled apart with ease.

Quick Pull Test: Similar to the slow pull test, the slime separated with ease. 

Blob Test: In this test we were supposed to lay the slime on a flat surface then time it until it flattened out. This test was inaccurate because the slime did not flatten out all the way, but only on the bottom where the table was. 

Bounce Test: The slime was very bouncy and bounced repeatedly after being dropped. 

Other Observations: 

The glue-water solution was pretty constant and thick before we added the borate to it. The glue was thick and clumpy after the borate was added. This is because the cross-linking agent (the borax) cause some of the glue to form a chain and create a strong structure, which was the polymer. 

Elasticity is the tendency of a body to return to its original shape after it has been stretched or compressed. What increases the elasticity of the polymer because it makes the glue more easily changeable, so it can react faster with the borax. 

The slime is viscoelastic because it is both thick and elastic.

Conclusion: 

My hypothesis was supported because if borax is added to the water-glue solution, then it will form the strong polymer slime because monomers create polymers. If we added more borax to the solution, there would be more elasticity because there was more cross-linking agent. Some problems that could have altered our info would be that the mixing of the borax and water wasn't mixed well enough, and that the polymer wasn't stirred right to create the strongest polymer possible. This test will help me in future tests because I will know that weak things, like monomers, can combine to create strong things,like polymers. Also, I will know that by adding the cross-linking agent, the strength of the polymer will increase. An example of where I would use this information would be if I need to create a stronger plastic, I would increase one of the chemicals used to make (specifically the cross-linking agent), and I would have made a stronger polymer. Over all, this lab gave me a greater perspective of what make up certain things, and how I can apply my knowledge of monomers and polymers to real life.

Polymer Scavenger Hunt

Polymer Basics     Name Elizabeth Kresock

Use the sites on the Matter & Atoms page of the Kid Zone at http://sciencespot.net/ to complete this worksheet.

Site #1: HandsOn Plastics
1. Plastics are polymers, which is something made of many units similar to a chain. Each
link in the chain is the “mer” or basic unit usually made out of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen,
and/or silicon.  To make the chain, many links or units are hooked or polymerized together.

2. Many common classes of polymers are composed of hydrocarbons, which contain the elements
carbon and hydrogen. List seven elements that are also found in polymers:Oxygen, chlorine, fluorine, nitrogen, silicon, phosphorous, and sulfur

3. What is one of the most famous silicon-based polymers? Silly Putty
4.  What are the general attributes (properties) of polymers?
A. Polymers can be very resistant to chemicals.
B. Polymers can be both thermal and electrical insulators.
C. Polymers are very light in mass with varying degrees of strength.
D. Polymers can be processed in various ways to produce thin fibers or very intricate parts.

5. What percentage of our trash are plastics? 9.9%

6. What does WTE mean? waste-to-energy. What are two benefits of WTE?
1 – We can use plastics that cannot be recycled.
2 – Incineration of polymers produces heat energy.

Site #2:  History of Plastics
Read the information on this page to help you complete this section. Fill in the blanks with the year it was first
produced and the last name(s) of the person credited with the discovery/development. Use the information to list the
substances with dates from the oldest to the most recent in the box.


Rayon – Developed in 1891 by Bernigaut
Silly Putty - Developed in 1949 by Wright
Cellophane - Discovered in 1900 by Brandenberger
Parkesine - Discovered in 1862 by Parker
Nylon - Developed in 1939 by Carothers
Bakelite - Developed in 1907 by Baekeland
Velcro - Developed in 1957 by Maestral
Saran - Discovered in 1933 by Wiley
PVC (Vinyl) – Developed by Simon
Polyethylene – Developed in 1936 by Fawcett & Gibson
Teflon – Discovered in 1938 by Plunkett
Celluoid - Developed in 1869 by Hyatt


Plastics Timeline
Oldest to Most Recent

1 Parkesine
2 Celluoid
3 Rayon
4 Cellophane
4 Bakellite
5 Saran
6 Polyethylene
8 Teflon
9 Nylon
10 Silly Putty
11 Velcro



Site #3: Nobel Prize.org: Plastics & Polymers
http://nobelprize.org/educational_games/chemistry/plastics/readmore.html


Plastics have changed the world: Where did the word plastic come from?
It came from the Greek word plasticos, which means “to mold,” because plastics are soft and mold-able.

What are plastics?  Synthetic polymers Define the following words after reading the section titled “What are plastics”

• monomer: The building blocks for making polymers
"one part" (mono = one, mer = part)

• polymer: Many monomers that are joined together in chains
"many parts" (poly = many)

• organic material: Carbon Compounds

Polymerization: The steps listed below explain how plastic is made. Fill in the missing blanks.

1. Crude oil, the unprocessed oil that comes out of the ground, contains hundreds of different hydrocarbons, as well as small amounts of other materials. The job of an

oil refinery is to separate these materials and also to break down (or "crack) large hydrocarbons into smaller ones.

2. A petrochemical plant receives refined oil containing the small monomers they need and creates polymers through chemical reactions.

3. A plastics factory buys the end products of a petrochemical plant - polymers in the form of resins - introduces additives to modify or obtain desirable properties, then molds or otherwise forms the final plastic products

Polymers are Everywhere: Read the paragraph titled “Polymers are Everywhere”, then answer true or false to the following questions.

• True Plastics are polymers, but polymers don't have to be plastics.

• False Cellulose, the basic component of plant cell wall, and DNA, the long molecule in the nuclei of your cells that carries all the genetic information about you, are both examples of plastics.

• True Natural polymers include silk, wool, cotton, wood, and leather.

Thermoplastics & Thermosets: Plastics are classified into two categories according to what happens to them when they're heated to high temperatures. Complete the table below.

Thermoplastics Thermosets

Can it be shaped?	yes	no
Analogy	When ice is heated, it melts. When thermoplastics are heated, they melt.	Just like a raw egg can become a boiled egg, a scrambled egg, etc; a thermoset can become many different things.
Strong or weak bonds	weak, connected, linear, bonds	strong, cross-linked bonds
Uses	There are many different uses including food wrap, food containers, lighting panels, and garden hoses.	Thermosets are used for things that can be heated up such as kitchen spatulas, and other kitchen tools. They are also in glues and circuitboards.
Recyling: Easy or Hard?	Easy because they can be molded into different shapes.	Hard because they have to be crushed to create powder which can be used for other thermosets.

Site #4 – Polymer Flash Activities

1. Click the link to make a virtual polymer and choose polyethylene.
A. What type of monomer is used to make this polymer? Ethylene
B. What elements and how many of each is in one of these monomers?
 C = Carbon  # - 2  H = Hydrogen  # - 4
C. What starts the process? Initiator

2. Click the link to try the matching games.  Record your times or scores in the blanks below.
A. Breakfast Game– 1st Try = 9588   2nd Try = 9632  3rd Try = 9608
B. Polymer Game - – 1st Try = 9615   2nd Try = 9621  3rd Try = 9379