Period: ______Date: ______/ Polymer WebQuest!
/50
WEBQUEST: At the end of this trip you should know the meaning of these words!
Monomer / Polymer / PlasticThermoplastic / Thermoset / Elastomer
Linking / Crosslinking
Start by going to How Stuff Works web site, and the page on How Plastics Work ( )
1) The first paragraph gives a definition of plastic. In your own words, what is a plastic?
2) The simplest definition of a polymer is a useful chemical made of :
3) From reading, what do you think the word inert means?
4) What is the advantage of plastics being inert?
5) What is the disadvantage of plastics being inert?
Because plastics are chemically inert we can store everything from food to acids in them. In addition, plastics do not conduct electricity so they can be used to insulate electrical wires. Plastics are also thermal insulators, keeping your cold drinks cold and your hot drinks hot without burning your hand. Plastics are very light and very strong. A plastic bottle weighs only 1/10 as much as glass. That means that you can lift that large bottle of soda, and if you drop it, it won’t break.
Skip to HowStuffWorks Plastic page 2.
6) Before 1839, rubber was good only for rubbing out pencil marks. It cracked when cold, and melted when warm. Then Charles Goodyear accidently cross-linked rubber molecules with sulfur. Because of the heat and the sulfur smell he named this process after the Roman god of fire mountains. He called it:
7) In what year did Leo Baekeland invent the very first synthetic (man-made) polymer?
Go to HowStuffWorks - Plastic page 5.
8) What is a thermoplastic?
9) What is a thermoset?
10) Write a sentence using both “thermoset” and “thermoplastic” that shows the difference between them.
11) Use the American Chemistry Council’s page on theresin identification coding systemto fill in the chart below.
Number and Code / Name / List 2 Uses or Applications / List 1 Use for Recycled Material Go to where Paul Lemur (yes, a pun!) will show you a lot about polymers.
Click on the large green question mark “What is a Polymer?” On the next page, click on another large green question mark “What is a Polymer?”
12) Scroll down until you can complete this sentence: A single polymer molecule is made out of
______of monomers
13) Can all molecules form polymers? Can water?
14) Invent your own polymer. Use any imaginary monomer you want. Give your polymer a name. Draw it!
Example:
sam moleculepolysam molecule
At the bottom of the page, click on “Return to Main Page”. Then, click on “Where are Polymers”.
Visit the Food Court and two stores of your choice.
15) In each place, list two items that are made of polymers and which polymers they are made of.
Food Court:
Food Item 1: ______, made of ______
Food Item 2: ______, made of ______
Store One = ______
Item 1: ______, made of ______
Item 2: ______, made of ______
Store Two = ______
Item 1: ______, made of ______
Item 2: ______, made of ______
Return to Main Page, then click on “Types of Polymers”, then click on “Natural Polymers”
16) Plants are made of a polymer called ______. They store their food in a polymer called ______. Both are made out of a sugar called ______.
17) We are made of polymers called ______. Protein also forms some of the things you wear, such as ______, ______and ______.
18) Protein is formed from molecules called ______.
19) What FIVE things are made of keratin?
20) What is the protein silk created by?
21) The outer shell of insects, crustaceans like lobsters, and spiders is formed of a protein called ______.
22) From what you know now about natural polymers, can you guess which two are the most common in the whole world? Guess first! Then click to find the answer. What is it? Were you right?
Return to “Kinds of Polymers”, then click on “Bend and Stretch”
23) What is an “elastomer”? Please use it in a sentence.
24) Elastomers bounce back into shape because the molecules are cross-______ed together.
25) Crosslinking is:
26) So that means that each rubber tire on an old car is made of (how many) ______molecules.
27) What does this mean about recycling rubber tires?
28) In order to have a rubber that can be recycled, we have to create a copolymer, which is a polymer made from two different polymers - one ______and the other ______.
1 each so far is 45, plus 5 for last = 50 / 2 = 25
29) Look online for information about one naturally occurring polymer. You will find many web sites. Do NOT choose a site you used on this webquest. Choose one that meets the criteria for a good source of information. Make sure that you check other web sites to verify the data and make sure that whoever posted it is someone you can trust.
What is the polymer you researched?
What are the address and the name of the site?
Why do you think that it is reliable?