Polymer Lab Group Investigation

Today we retested the experiment of the glue polymer. We were told to redo an old polymer experiment, or look up another one to do. Our group chose to redo the glue polymer lab, but with a little modification. We had decided to add double the amount of borax solution. So instead of adding 5 mL of the borax solution to the 40 mL of glue, we added 10 mL. When we started to stir the glue, there was a lot of extra borax solution. We had concluded that the glue was fully saturated and could not hold anymore of the borax solution. I had suggested that because of the extra moisture, the ball would bounce higher. We had started to conduct the experiment and we started off the same way as before, but then we added the 10mL of the borax solution. Because we had added double the amount of borax solution, there were some differences in the outcome of the experiment. Some of those were that the ball was a lot more sticky and stretchier than the first time. I think that a chemical reaction in the glue had caused the glue to become more sticky with more moisture. When we were waiting for the piece that we put in the fridge, we had started to mess around with the polymer left in the jar. When the ball had warmed up to room temperature, it bounced higher and was not as sticky. The borax solution was also cold, so we concluded that because the borax solution was cold, that is why at first, when we first took out the polymer, it did not bounce. When we took it out of the fridge, it was a little more bouncy, but still not enough to measure because it was sticky. When it was room temperature, it lost a lot of its stick. So, it bounced higher when it was warmer because there wasn’t as much stickiness.