Sodium Silicate Polymer Lab Investigation

When I first saw the sodium silicate being poured, I immediately thought that the polymer (in all of its snowball-esque glory) created was going to be much thicker than our last carbon based experiment. Not only would this cause a harder ball, but also a denser one. Besides this correct hypothesis, I did not fully realize the waxiness and crumble that would be associated with our second polymer. I believe that the heightened density allowed for it to bounce 7 cm higher than our last polymer.

However, when measuring the ethanol and sodium silicate, I forgot to wash them off, leaving a bit of chalky polymer on the bottom of the graduated cylinder.

Once both the ethanol and the sodium silicate met, a film developed where the ethanol had reached. This surreal effect illustrated the nearly instant creation of a polymer, compared to the last polymer. The new polymer formed extremely quickly. However, it was very hard to get all of it out of the beaker, and it left a waxy residue behind. Even when molding the ball, the polymer was very crumbly and tough to mold into a ball.

When dropped, our ball had a rebound of 2/3, while our last experiment was closer to a 2/5. When frozen, both times it was slightly less bouncy. I attribute this decrease to our great shaping beforehand, which decreased any effectiveness in the drop in temperature because then optimization of density was little and negligible.

Next time I would like to use another chemical to see if they could replicate ethanol's water removing process, and then use a separate chemical to be the cross-linker. Also, I was wondering if you could create a bipolymer, which would have the inside of a silicon based polymer, but with a carbon-based coating that could protect the inner layer from brakeage.