Done by group Researchers at Khalifa school for boys. Under supervision from Al-bairaq

1. AL-Bairaq
I am Discovering Materials 13th Cycle
Polymers
RESEARCHERS
Faisal Khalil Hamad Al-Mutlaq
Mohammed Al-Mutlaq Mohammed Al-Kuwari

2. Outline
• Introduction
• Activity 1: Changing Polymer Pellets
• Activity 2: Hunting for Polymer Products
• Activity 3: Comparing the Viscosity of Liquids
• Activity 4: Testing the Strength of Different
Polymer Films
• Design Project: Designing a Humidity Sensor
• Product Idea

3. Introduction
• The term polymer is a composite of the Greek words poly and
meros, meaning “many parts.” Polymers are large molecules
made of small, repeating molecular building blocks called
monomers. The process by which monomers link together to
form a molecule of a relatively high molecular mass is known as
polymerization.
• Examples of synthetic polymers include nylon and polyethylene.
Natural polymers occur in nature and can be extracted. They are
often water-based. Examples of naturally occurring polymers are
silk, wool and DNA.

4. Activities 1: Changing Polymer Pellets
• Objective: How the polymer pellets work
• Procedure:
• 1-We weigh and putted 0.5g of polyacrylamide into two
Beakers (A and B).
• 2-We added 10ml of clear water into beaker A and B, and
after 10 minutes , we filtered the water using filter paper and
noticed that the polymer in beaker A weigh 9.49 and beaker
B weigh 9.39, we repeated and putted water in beakers but
this time we putted salt water instead of clear water in beaker
B, After 10 min we weigh both of the beakers and noticed that
polymer in beaker A increased from 9.49 to 16.63 and
decreased in beaker B from 9.39 to 6.30

5. Activities 1: Changing Polymer Pellets
• Results and Conclusion:
• 1-Polymers can absorb 200 times of its volume.
• 2-Salt water causes diffusion(diffusion is the net movement of
molecules or atoms from a region of high concentration with
high chemical potential to a region of low concentration with
low chemical potential ) thus making the water move from
high concentration (clear water) to low concentration (salt
water) thus making the size and mass of polymer in beaker B
decrease .

6. Activities 2: Hunting for Polymer Products
• Objective: To recognize the wide use of polymers
in our everyday lives and to observe some
properties of polymers .
• Procedure:
• 1-Divide polymers into 2 types, Natural polymers
and synthetic(Manmade)polymers.
• List in examples of most common Natural and
synthetic polymers.

7. Activities 2: Hunting for Polymer Products
1- Natural Rubber
Natural Polymers
2- Cotton
Natural Silk
Synthetic polymers
1- Plastic bottles
Styrofoam cups
2- Milk jugs

8. Activities 3: Comparing the Viscosity of
Liquids
• Objective: to understand the meaning of viscosity
and explore the effect of polymer molecular
weight and concentration on the viscosity of
polymer solutions.
• Procedure:
• We compared the viscosity of three liquids with
different molecular weight : Methanol, Ethylene
glycol, Glycerol .

9. Activities 3: Comparing the Viscosity of
Liquids
• Results:
• We turned all of the three
Liquids in three boatel
Upside down and measured The time it
took for the bubble to get from one end
to another
• 1-We noticed that the bubble in Methanol (32) moved faster than
the other two.
• 2-we also noticed that the glycerol (92) moved slower than the
other two.
• Conclusion:
• Liquids made of long molecules(high molecular weight) are more
viscous than liquids made of short molecules(low molecular weight)

10. Activities 4: Testing the Strength of
Different Polymer Films
• Objective: Testing and Comparing the stretch ability and
tensile strength of polymer.
• Procedure:
• Spread the polymers on 9 glass slides which consists of 3
different types of polymers with different molecular
weight, and every polymer is repeated on 3 glass slides.
• We left them to dry for about 2 days.
• We scratched the polymers off the glass slides using
razorblades.
• Finally, we tested the hardness and stretch ability of the
films.

11. Activities 4: Testing the Strength of
Different Polymer Films
• Results:
• 1- some of the polymer films were weak.
• 2-Some of the films were strong and
Stretchable.
• Conclusion:
• When the molecular weight increases
the Hardness of the polymer is increased,
but the Stretch ability is decreased

12. Design Project Designing a Humidity
Sensor
• Objective: Design a humidity sensor
made of a polymer film that changes
color as the moisture level in its
environment changes.
• Procedure:
• We mixed polymer solvent
• indicators of different
ratios 5:2:3 and then spread it on
a glass slide.

13. Design Project Designing a Humidity
Sensor
• Results:
• After spreading the mixture on a
Glass slide it turned to blue in color,
when we exposed the glass slide to
water vapor it changed to purple
because of the moister, and then we
used a drier on it and it changed back to its original
color(blue).
• Conclusion:
• The polymer changes its color when its exposed to
water vapor because of the moisture.

14. Final Project:
(Title: Taking the stick out of a stick of gum.)

15. Final Project:
(Title: Taking the stick out of a stick of gum)
• Nonstick gum might not sound like a very important invention to you,
but it may have a bigger impact than you realize. According to Pettman,
over 660 million tons of chewing gum are manufactured every year
worldwide—and much of it gets spit out on sidewalks, stuck under
desks, or otherwise disposed of irresponsibly
• Who pays to get it removed? The taxpayers. In 2005, some of London's
city assembly representatives reported that it cost about four million
dollars per year just to remove used gum from subway trains and
stations. Add in all the sidewalks, statues, park benches, and other public
places with gum litter, and the price tag gets much higher.
• What's more, even if it's successfully washed away into the sewer
system, regular chewing gum takes a very long time to degrade

16. Taking the stick out of a stick of gum
Methods and Materials
In contrast, the nonstick gum
uses a polymer called polysaccharide
that has a hydrophilic (“water-loving”)
surface surrounding a hydrophobic base.
If you drop the gum, it will still stick to
the sidewalk at first . But when you rinse it
with water, the hydrophilic component of
the gum attracts water molecules, allowing them to
squeeze in between the gum and the sidewalk. The
result? The gum loosens and detaches easily

17. Taking the stick out of a stick of gum
Results: (‫)النتائج‬
• A chewing gum that won’t stick to shoes, hair, or pavement
and As soon as it rains, our chewing gum is simply washed
away thus making countries save millions and millions of
dollar each year just to remove Gums from the each city and
it can also be a substitute for using deadly and harmful
chemicals to remove gums.
OR

18. Taking the stick out of a stick of gum
Recommendations: (‫)التوصيات‬
• We want people to investigate even further so
that they can find a polymer to use in place of our
polymer which is available and cheaper than
ours.
• The biggest obstacle in our project was to find a
hydrophilic polymer that is non-toxic and cheap
but we found a polymer called polysaccharide
and we encourage others to continue our
research and find a even better polymer if
possible.

19. Conclusions
(Overall of the Polemers)
London alone spends annually around +4million dollars per
year just to remove used gum from subway trains and
stations. Add in all the sidewalks, statues, park benches,
and other public places with gum litter, and the price tag
gets much higher. NOW THINK HOW MUCH CAN IT SAVE
AND HAVE IMPACT GLOBALLY?
-.Al-bairaq helped me a lot in understanding polymers and
plastics, to be honest before Al-bairaq I used to think that
polymers are just small balls that absorb water and it was
more of a toy for kids, but I was amazed to learn about the
properties and know the uses of polymers in our daily life

20. 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, and Shell.