TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Bridging to Polymers: Thermoset Lab
Students act as engineers to learn about the strengths of various epoxy-amine mixtures, and observe the unique characteristics of different mixtures of epoxies and hardeners. Student groups make and optimize thermosets by combining two...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Creepy Silly Putty
Students learn about viscoelastic material behavior, such as strain rate dependence and creep, by using silly putty, an easy-to-make polymer material. They learn how to make silly putty, observe its behavior with different strain rates,...
Museum of Science
Museum of Science and Industry: Online Science: Activities: Make Slime
Step-by-step instructions, with photos, of how to create slime made of polymer chains using Borax and white glue.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Let's Make Silly Putty
Students make two different formulations of imitation Silly Putty with varying degrees of cross-linking. They witness how changes in the degree of cross-linking influence the putty properties.
Smithsonian Institution
Lemelson Center: Spark!lab: Make a Polymer
Polymers are all around us. Learn how to make your own, then answer scientific questions about your experiment.
McREL International
Mc Rel: Glue Polymer (Whelmer #15 Learning Activity)
An easy to do activity that investigates the basic principles behind chemical bonding. The activity is written in lesson plan format that meets NSES standards.
BiologyWise
Biology Wise: How to Make a 3 D Dna Model Project
Describes the steps for how to make a model of DNA using colored polymer clay and wire. Students will gain a good understanding of the structure of DNA by doing this project.
Science is Fun
Science Is Fun: Gluep Solid or Liquid?
In this experiment, students create a polymer substance called Gluep, then investigate its properties. Includes a detailed explanation of how the polymer molecules bond together to form the plastic.
Science Buddies
Science Buddies: Slime Chemistry
Have you ever wondered how fun toys like Silly Putty, Gak, and Slime are made? These products are so much fun because of the properties of polymers, which make them delightfully bouncy, stretchy, sticky, moldable, breakable, hard, soft,...
Science Bob Pflugfelder
Science Bob: Homemade Slime!
Contains a procedure for creating slime -- a polymer formed by mixing water, borax, Elmer's glue, and food coloring. Following the procedure, the site contains a brief description of what polymers are.
Concord Consortium
Concord Consortium: Science of Atoms and Molecules: Nucleic Acids and Proteins
Through this activity, students work with macromolecules, proteins and nucleic acids. The focus is on the atomic structure of proteins, how linear polymers are made, and the surface charges of the resulting polymers. . Multiple-choice...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Battle of the Beams
Students explore the properties of composites using inexpensive materials and processing techniques. They create beams using Laffy Taffy and water, and a choice of various reinforcements (pasta, rice, candies) and fabricating...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Focus on Fabrics: Putting Materials to Good Use
The goal is for students to understand the basics of engineering associated with the use, selection, and properties of fabrics. A wide variety of natural and synthetic fibers are used in our clothing, home furnishings and in our travel...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Silly Semi Solids
Groups of students make a polymer out of household items. They then experiment with the polymer to determine its various properties.
BioMan Biology
Bio Man Biology: Life Chemistry Quizzes
Two multiple-choice quizzes, one on the processes and types of biological molecules, the other on the structure and replication of DNA.
Concord Consortium
Concord Consortium: Molecular Workbench Showcase: The Tree of Life's Molecules
Explore macromolecules and the smaller molecules that make up living organisms in this module.
Other
Doyle Sailmakers: Fiber Guide
Descriptions of the major fibers used in sail making. A decent introduction to the different fibers.
Other
60 Second Science: Easy Putty
Explore the properties of colloids while making putty. Discover how some mixtures can display properties of both solids and liquids.
Science Fun for Everyone
Science Fun: Squishy Turkeys
Watch Scientist Joe demonstrate how to make a turkey in a glove using homemade slime in this video presentation.
Practical Action
Practical Action: Plastics Challenge
This is a challenge for students to develop solutions to the problems caused by plastic waste globally. They will learn about how plastic waste impacts people around the world, the different types of plastic, how they are each used, how...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Breaking Beams
Students learn about stress and strain by designing and building beams using polymer clay. They compete to find the best beam strength to beam weight ratio, and learn about the trade-offs engineers make when designing a structure.
Curated OER
How to Make a Polymer
Rearrangements of alkene with transition metal complexes. Includes information on catalysts, mechanisms and other similar polymerizations.