Teach Engineering: Let's Make Silly Putty

Students learn about viscoelastic material behavior, such as strain rate dependence and creep, by using silly putty, an easy-to-make polymer material. They learn how to make silly putty, observe its behavior with different strain rates,...

Students reflect on their experiences making silly putty (the previous hands-on activity in the unit), especially why changing the borax concentration alters the mechanical properties of silly putty and how this pertains to tissue...

It might be silly to determine the creep rate of putty but groups will enjoy making different formulations of silly putty and playing with them to understand how the different mixtures behave. The second part of the activity has groups...

Students work as biomedical engineers to find liquid solutions that can clear away polyvinyl acetate polymer "blood clots" in model arteries (made of clear, flexible tubing). Teams create samples of the "blood clot" polymer with...

Polymers make up nearly everything in the world around us; some are naturally occurring, while others are synthetic. Learn about how polymers form, what they are used for, and some of the potential environmental and health dangers of...

Students are introduced to the concept of viscoelasticity and some of the material behaviors of viscoelastic materials, including strain rate dependence, stress relaxation, creep, hysteresis and preconditioning. Viscoelastic material...

Learners identify relationships between scientific concepts and their historical roots. They discuss and debate issues of ethics in science, specifically on the concept of genetic engineering and describe the processes of cloning and...

Students extend their understanding of surface tension by exploring the real-world engineering problem of deciding what makes a "good" soap bubble. Student teams first measure this property, and then use this measurement to determine the...

Students work within constraints to construct model trusses and then test them to failure as a way to evaluate the relative strength of different truss configurations and construction styles. Each student group uses Popsicle sticks and...

The goal is for students to understand the basics of engineering associated with the use, selection, and properties of fabrics. A wide variety of natural and synthetic fibers are used in our clothing, home furnishings and in our travel...