Synthesizing Polymers

Synthesizing Polymers “Making Silly Putty” In college, there are many things students take for granted. One thing we all take for granted the most is keeping a fresh perspective on the curriculum we are taking. This is an especially hard task when it comes to the more challenging subjects like science and mathematics. Chemistry, in particular is one of the most challenging subjects for any student, and many factors contribute to the students’ understanding of the course. Things like the right professor, hands-on experiments and visuals, how the material is presented to students, how tests are given, and lastly, most importantly, if there are opportunities for extra-credit. In college, extra-credit opportunities come few and far in between. In my chemistry class, however this opportunity presented itself and I was ecstatic to take part. The extra credit assignment was to perform a chemistry experiment of our choosing to a group of elementary, middle, or high school students, and report our experience. With that being said and my experiment finished, I would like to report my findings. Between the topic of the experiment, teacher, and students the demonstration proceeded without a hitch. The type of experiment I was performing made me very anxious. Questions like, “Will the glue and borax solution bond properly, did the lab give me enough borax to dissolve in the water, and will the students understand what in the heck I’m talking about?” ran through my mind a time or two. In preparation, I learned a lot more than I thought I would because I had to have an understanding of the material to make it easier for the students to understand it. I performed the experiment at home before presenting in the classroom. It was a good thing I did because I learned that if you pour the glue in to fast and through the nozzle, it takes much longer to mix and bond, however if the nozzle is removed and a thicker consistency is dropped into the solution the results are much more