Lotje Mulder Chemistry 11 Dr.

Terbush

Visco-elastic Polymer Lab

Observations: The second step of the procedure was to add the water to the glue. As the water is poured on the glue, the glue forms a sort of layer of protection. The water sits on top of the glue because the glue is like a boundary between the water and the bottom of the cup, preventing the substances to mix. After this, the cornstarch is added to the mixture which also lies on top of the glue, but due to its weight, creates a rather large indentation in the mixture. After the glue, water and cornstarch are mixed together, the substance becomes a slightly thicker milky white mixture. When the red food coloring was added, the mixture became a fluorescent pink, but remains the same amount of fluidity. Once the borax solution was added, the mixture rapidly became thicker. The mixture that came in contact with the borax solution first seemed to stick faster, and become like a type of jello. However, once all the borax solution was mixed in, the whole solution became sticky and thick.

Conclusion: As soon as the borax solution is added to the polyvinyl alcohol mixture, it thickens rapidly. However, an important property is that while becoming thicker and adhering to the spoon, the mixture is still able to move and take new forms. This is because when the borax is added, the borate ion forms temporary bonds with the polyvinyl alcohol polymers. Loose bonds that are easily broken, and not permanent hold the polyvinyl alcohol polymers together. The bond between the borate ion and the polyvinyl alcohol are hydrogen bonds that are also easily broken and remade. That is why the putty is able to maintain its fluidity because the hydrogen bonds between the borate ion and polyvinyl alcohol continuously break and mend, as the putty is being transformed and the borate ion slides past the polymers. A hydrogen bond is the attraction between a hydrogen atom and highly electronegative atoms such as oxygen, nitrogen or fluorine. The bond is a particularly strong intermolecular force, which occurs covalently. Due the high electronegativity of the oxygen, nitrogen and fluorine atoms, the hydrogen bond is essentially a case of dipoledipole attraction. The high electronegativity of the atoms results in the electron pair to be pulled away from the hydrogen, and because of hydrogens small size, it causes the hydrogen to exert a strong attractive force on a lone pair in the electronegative atom of a neighboring molecule.

Borate ion bonded to polyvinyl alcohol with hydrogen bonds: (Drawn by hand).