Are You Gellin'?

Materials and Equipment

corn starch water measuring spoons and cups stir sticks small microwave-safe bowls permanent marker microwave oven cookie sheet lined with wax paper graph paper

Experimental Procedure 1. You will be making several suspensions of corn starch in water, each at a different concentration. Each suspension will have a different percentage of cornstarch (5%, 10%, 15%, and 20%) suspended in water. 2. Label each bowl with the percentage of starch (5%, 10%, 15%, and 20%) using a permanent marker. 3. Mix the ingredients for each mixture following this table as a guideline: 5% cornstarch water 5 mL (1 tsp) 95 mL 10% 10 mL (2 tsp) 90 mL 15% 15 mL (3 tsp) 85 mL 20% 20 mL (4 tsp) 80 mL

4. Safety note: As you heat the gel it can become super-heated and cause a burn. Take caution when stirring. Heat each bowl separately in the microwave on high for a total of 1 minute 30 seconds by following these steps: a. b. c. d. e. f. g. Stir each bowl thoroughly heat for 30 seconds stir again heat for 30 seconds stir again heat for 30 seconds stir thoroughly

5. When you heat each suspension, make observations before and after heating. Does anything change? Write down your observations in a data table: Before After Heating After Cooling Number of

Heating 5% 10% 15% 20%

Squares Covered

6. Allow the suspensions to cool to room temperature before touching them, they will be VERY HOT! As they cool, do you notice any more changes? 7. When the suspensions have cooled to room temperature, touch them with your fingers. Write down your observations in a data table. 8. Now you will measure the thickness, or viscosity, of the gels using the "ooze" method. Line a cookie sheet with graph paper and a layer of wax paper on top. You should be able to see the graph paper through the wax paper. 9. You will gently place the gel suspension, one at a time, onto the wax paper and allow the gel to spread out. Each suspension you made has the same volume, 100 mL, so if they have the same viscosity they should spread out and cover the same amount of space. It is important to leave the tray undisturbed during this test so that the gel will flatten out all by itself, and not because you are wiggling it around. 10. After the gel stops spreading, trace around it with the permanent marker and put it back in the bowl. Count the number of squares that are inside the trace and write the number in the data table. The more squares you count mean that the gel has spread out over a large space, which means it is not very thick. The fewer squares you count mean that the gel did not spread out over a large space, and so it is very thick and viscous. 11. Make a graph and compare your results. What happens to the viscosity of the gel as the amount of cornstarch is increased? Variations

Starches can come from many different sources, like corn, potatoes, rice, and tapioca. In this experiment you used corn starch. You can try this experiment with other kinds of starches. Will you get similar results? Gels can be made out of many different materials. Make gels out of different materials and devise a way to measure and compare them. Try using gelatin, agar, diaper filling, tapioca, seaweed, or fruit pectin. How do they differ and how are they similar? Before you heated the cornstarch, it was a suspension of cornstarch in water that was very thin and runny because it had not gelled yet. If you increase the amount of cornstarch, you could thicken the suspension and make Oobleck, a non-Newtonian fluid called a colloid.

End Product Gels are very common materials because they have so many uses around the home. Here is a list of some things around the house that are made of gel materials:

diapers, JELL-O, pudding,

Dr. Scholl's insoles, bike seats, knee pads, Sterno, air fresheners, hair products, cold packs, medicine gel capsules, toys.

It's Hard Work to Work Harden! Learn How to Make Metals Stronger
Materials and Equipment

Copper sheet, 4 inches x 4 inches.

Aluminum sheet, 4 inches x 4 inches. Metal snips for cutting the sample sheets; Permanent marker Hammer Clean surface that can withstand hammering Lab notebook

Experimental Procedure 1. Using the metal snips, cut the thinnest copper and aluminum sheets into four strips each, of equal size. You should have four strips of copper and four strips of aluminum when you are finished cutting. Using your permanent marker, label each strip with a number so that you can keep track of each strip. The packing slip that comes with the sample packs has the thickness of each sample. Record the number you assigned each strip and its thickness in your lab notebook. Caution: Exercise caution when handling the strips of metal. They are sharp and can cause painful cuts. 2. Make data tables in your lab notebook, similar to the ones shown below. Use the tables to record your data. 3. Take two of your copper strips. You will experiment with one strip and use the other strip as a comparison (or control). Mark the control with a "C," in addition to the number it already has on it. 4. Place one strip on the table. Using the hammer, hit the middle of the strip two times. Pick up the strip and gently push on the side that was not hammered. Is the strip stiff compared to the control strip? Put the same strip down and hit the strip two more times with the hammer, in the same location as before. Pick up the strip and test whether the copper strip has stiffened even more. Compare it to the control strip. Note your data in your lab notebook. Repeat this step until the copper strip starts to stiffen. How many hammer blows did it take? What is the appearance of the work hardened copper? Is it shiny or dull? 5. Repeat step 3 and 4 with your other two copper strips. Always keep the control strip to the side so that you can make a comparison between the worked metal and the control. 6. Repeat steps 3-5 with your aluminum strips. Record your data in your lab notebook. Is there a difference in when the aluminum strip started to harden compared to the copper strip? 7. Plot your data on a scatter plot. Label the x-axis Metals and label the y-axis The Least Number of Hits to Stiffen.

Copper Strip 1 Hits 2 4 6 Did it stiffen? Observations Hits 2 4 6

Aluminum Strip 1 Did it stiffen? Observations

8 10

8 10

Variations

Does the thickness of the material affect when it work hardens? Try repeating the experiment with different thicknesses of the copper and aluminum sheets. Try bending and flexing a copper pipe. When does it get too difficult to bend? You can also use a blowtorch to reduce the number of dislocations in the pipe. This is called annealing. Let the pipe cool and see how annealing affects bending the pipe.

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