The document discusses various activities related to the study of polymers, including changing polymer pellets, comparing viscosities, and testing tensile strength. It details the design of a humidity-sensing packaging material aimed at preventing food spoilage in high-humidity conditions, particularly for items like dates. The conclusion emphasizes the potential applications of the humidity sensor in various food packaging scenarios and acknowledges the support received during the project.

1. AL-BAIRAQ
I AM DISCOVERING
MATERIALS
POLYMERS
ARQ_GENERATION_X IDM14
Qamar Nidal Hind Almarri
Sarah Albaker Amal Abdullah

2. TABLE OF CONTENTS
•Introduction
•Activities
•Changing polymer pellets
•Hunting for polymers
•Comparing viscosity of liquids
•Testing the strength of different polymers
•Designing a humidity sensor
•Final Product Idea: Humidity-Sensing
Packaging Material

3. INTRODUCTION
Polymer
noun
plural noun: polymers
a substance which has a molecular structure built up chiefly or
completely from a large number of similar units bonded together.
e.g. many synthetic organic materials used as plastics and resins.

4. ACTIVITIES
CHANGING POLYMER PELLETS.
Activity 1
Part one
Changing polymer pellets.
For the first part of the activity we
added a specific amount of plain
water to the polymer pellets.
 Observations:
The polymer increased in size after
adding the water to it .
Part two
After adding salt water to one of the
beakers, the polymer pellets in
beaker B (salt water) decreased in
size, whilst beaker A (plain water)
doubled in size.
 Observations:
The salt water decreased the size of the
polymer.
And the normal water increased the
size of the polymer.

5. Activity 2:
Hunting for polymers
We researched different types of polymers
And found the wide range of different
polymers with a variety of properties.
Activity 3:
Comparing the viscosity of liquids
•We looked at three bottles of different
polymers, and compared how each one was
flowing through the bottle.
• The heavier the liquid, the higher the
viscosity
•Activity 4:
Testing the strength of different polymer
films
•We tested different polymers for their
tensile strength and how much they can
stretch.
Design Activity 5
Humidity sensor experiment:
• We designed a non-electrical humidity
sensor film using different chemicals.

6. PRODUCT IDEA
• According to the weather in Qatar, the humidity levels are very
high during summer. Hence, we employ Humidity-Sensing
Packaging Material (HSPM) in food packaging to detect the
malfunctioning in the vacuum packaging of food materials like in
dates.

7. BENEFITS
Our product idea helps to sort the improperly packed dates boxes,
so that the laborers can easily repackage/replace them with new
packaging.
Material and Methods
Materials used for humidity sensor are:
• PVA(Poly Vinyl Alcohol
• Cobalt Chloride
• 2-Butanone
Methods Used:
You make the polymer films coated with the humidity sensor using PVA,
Cobalt Chloride & 2-Butanone.

8. RESULTS
We successfully created a humidity sensor coating on the polymer films.
Conclusion and Recommendations
• Large scales of food damage due to moisture could be prevented with our product idea.
• Our product could be used for food materials like dates, pet food, dried fruits, and even
other materials such as baby diapers, etc.
As you can see it is a very wide range.

9. ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Many thanks to my teachers, school and AL-Bairaq team from
Center for Advanced Materials (CAM), Qatar University for
supporting us during our journey with a AL-Bairaq.
Also, I would like to thank the sponsors UNESCO, Qatar
National Commission.