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Polymers Teacher Resources
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Students examine how some natural substances are polymers. In this polymer lesson students complete a lab and give examples of a physical change.
Turn your class loose to experiment with the different fat content in skim milk, whole milk, half and half, and heavy cream. This is a visually vibrant experiment, as learners drip food coloring on the surface of the products and measure how far it spreads. The procedure was written up by an education student, so it is not refined, but the activity would be useful in a health class when studying fat content in foods or in a biology class when studying hydrophobic molecules or fats.
A very neat worksheet has been produced by Pearson Education, Inc. for use in a general chemistry class. The first nine questions are fill in the blanks for a paragraph about types of bonds and electronegativity. Five true-false questions and five matching descriptions follow. This would make an ideal pop quiz!
Students explore polymers by designing and preparing an inexpensive and effective reusable ice pack. They develop and test a design for a reusable ice pack in the science lab. Students apply chemical and physical properties of polymers and their uses while creating the ice pack.
Students explore physical properties of polymers through experiments. They test and compare the physical properties of thermoplastic polymers. When conducting the experiments, students follow listed safety guidelines.
Macromolecules such as carbohydrates, steroids, phospholopids are given as examples of polymers and molecules formed with different bonds and specific methods.
Two scenarios are presented for chemistry detectives to decipher. Both require the use of an infrared spectrometer and focus on the examination of polymer materials. In the first, lumps in polyethylene bottles are analyzed. In the second, two specific brands of plastic food wrap are compared. Lab groups can choose from one of these two open-ended science inquiries. They are both terrific lessons for studying properties of polymers, spectroscopy, or simply practicing the scientific process.
Students explore online tutorial on polymers. In this chemistry lesson, they create two polymers in the lab and compare their properties. They write a sales letter about their new and improved polymer product.
High schoolers investigate plastic resins and their uses. In this plastics lesson plan, students describe major plastic resins and what they are used for, they compare and contrast the properties of plastic resins and they list products that different resins become when recycled. High schoolers conclude their investigation by determining how to separate mixtures of two types of plastics through a recycling program.
Students create a polymer using Borax and Elmer's Glue. In this chemistry lesson, students identify monomers made of hydrocarbons and then brainstorm a list of polymers and their uses.