UniServe Science Senior Science Table of Contents

9.5 Polymers

What are polymers? Properties of polymers
Natural polymers and their uses Synthetic polymers and their uses
Sources of synthetic polymers Plastics
Impact on the environment Biodegradability

General

Senior Science: Polymers - from HSC Online
http://hsc.csu.edu.au/senior_science/options/polymers/

Faces in Polymers - a module from the Chemical Heritage Foundation, History of Chemistry
http://www.chemheritage.org/EducationalServices/FACES/teacher/poly/home.htm

Polymers: Molecular Giants - from Chemical Heritage Foundation
http://www.chemheritage.org/explore/explore-nav5.html

Polymer Discovery, Online HSC Resources from The University of Sydney and Key Centre for Polymer Colloids
http://www.kcpc.usyd.edu.au/discovery/Syllabus.html

What are polymers?

Polymer Discovery - from Online HSC Resources, Key Centre for Polymer Colloids, The University of Sydney
http://www.kcpc.usyd.edu.au/discovery/Syllabus.html

The Macrogalleria - a cyberwonderland of polymer fun - University of Southern Mississippi
http://www.pslc.ws/macrog/

Polymers and People - from Beyond Discovery, The National Academy of Sciences
http://www.beyonddiscovery.org/content/view.article.asp?a=203

Level 3: How They Work - from the Macrogalleria - a cyberwonderland of polymer fun, University of Southern Mississippi
http://www.pslc.ws/macrog/floor3.htm

Polymers - Chemical of the Week
http://scifun.chem.wisc.edu/chemweek/polymers/polymers.html

Polymers and intermolecularbonds - from Making the Modern World
http://www.makingthemodernworld.org.uk/learning_modules/chemistry/03.TU.02/

Faces in Polymers - from Chemical Heritage Foundation
http://www.chemheritage.org/EducationalServices/faces/poly/home.htm

Polymers and Polymerization - from Aus-e-Tute
http://www.ausetute.com.au/polymers.html

Condensation Polymerization - from Materials World, with Simulation Applet
http://www.materialsworldmodules.org/resources/polimarization/4-condensation.html

Addition Polymerization - from Materials World, with Simulation Applet
http://www.materialsworldmodules.org/resources/polimarization/3-addition.html


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Properties of polymers

Properties of Polymers - from the Macrogalleria - a cyberwonderland of polymer fun, University of Southern Mississippi
http://www.pslc.ws/macrog/property/gel/properties.htm

Making Polymers in the laboratory

UNIT 7: LESSON 4: CORN THAT BOUNCES AND STRETCHES - contains simple recipes for some cornflour based polymers, from the NAtional Corn Growers Association
http://www.ncga.com/education/pdf/unit7lesson4.pdf

Playing with Polymers - from The Science Spot: Chemistry Lessons
http://sciencespot.net/Pages/classchem.html#Anchor-poly

POLYMERS - GREAAAAAAT BIIIIIIG MOLECUUUUUULES - from Illinois Institute of Technology
http://www.iit.edu/%7Esmile/ch96m6.html

Playdough Recipes - a number of recipes for playdough
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Acres/7875/recip3.html

Homemade Playdough - from Creative Kids at Home
http://www.creativekidsathome.com/activities/activity_8.html

How To make SLIME and SILLY PUTTY
http://www.ericjorgensen.com/html/slime.htm

How to Make Slime - from your Chemistry Guide
http://chemengineer.about.com/c/ht/01/02/How_Chocolate_Curls0983125813.htm

Homemade Slime - from the Mad Scientist Network
http://www.madsci.org/experiments/archive/878680114.Ch.html


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Natural polymers and their uses

Natural Polymers - from the Macrogalleria - a cyberwonderland of polymer fun, University of Southern Mississippi
http://www.pslc.ws/macrog/natupoly.htm

Soybean Protein Fiber Properties - from Swicofil, produser of natural and synthetic yarns
http://www.swicofil.com/soybeanproteinfiberproperties.html

CHARACTERISTICS AND PROPERTIES OF FIBERS - from World in a Spin
http://www.worldinaspin.com/pages/Articles/Article_Characteristics.html


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Synthetic polymers and their uses

Level 2: Polymers Up Close and Personal - from the Macrogalleria - a cyberwonderland of polymer fun, University of Southern Mississippi
http://www.pslc.ws/macrog/floor2.htm

Level 1: Polymers are Everywhere - from the Macrogalleria - a cyberwonderland of polymer fun, University of Southern Mississippi
http://www.pslc.ws/macrog/floor1.htm

Level 4: Makin' Polymers - from the Macrogalleria - a cyberwonderland of polymer fun, University of Southern Mississippi
http://www.pslc.ws/macrog/floor4.htm

The Vinyl Institute - includes Vinyl the material, Vinyl and the environment
http://www.vinylinfo.org/

Polystyrene Packaging Delivers! - from Polystyrene Packaging Company including Educational Resources and Polystyrene Facts
http://www.polystyrene.org/

IISRP Online - International Institute of Synthetic Rubber Producers, Inc. including What is Synthetic Rubber?
http://www.iisrp.com/

Comparison of Fiber Properties - from Mini Fibers
http://www.minifibers.com/literature/fiber_comparison.htm

About Acrylonitrile - from AN Group, a series of questions and answers about acrylonitrile and the studies around it
http://www.angroup.org/qa.html

1988 onwards: A new era - Polymer Currency Notes - from Reserve Bank of Australia Museum and Virtual Tour
http://www.rba.gov.au/Museum/#

How Self-healing Spacecraft Will Work - from How Stuff Works
http://www.howstuffworks.com/self-healing-spacecraft.htm

Carbon Fiber - from the Macrogalleria - a cyberwonderland of polymer fun, University of Southern Mississippi
http://www.pslc.ws/macrog/carfib.htm

Kevlar - the Wonder Material - from The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
http://www.lbl.gov/MicroWorlds/Kevlar/

What is Kevlar? - from DuPont
http://www.dupont.com/kevlar/whatiskevlar.html

STEPHANIE L. KWOLEK - the inventor of Kevlar, from Chemical Heritage
http://www.chemheritage.org/classroom/chemach/plastics/kwolek.html

Simple Solutions from Saran
http://www.saranbrands.com/

Saran Wrap - from About Inventors
http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blsaranwrap.htm

Saran Resins and Films - from Dow Chemicals
http://www.dow.com/saran/

Physical Properties of Food Wraps - a laboratory procedure from The Dow Chemical Company
http://www.doweducation.com/teachers/g912/physical.htm

World Of Plastics And Polymers - laboratory procedures to make plastics and investigate their properties, from Science and Mathematics Initiative for Learning Enhancement, Illinois Institute of Technology
http://www.iit.edu/~smile/chbi9904.htm


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Sources of synthetic polymers

Polymers and People - from Beyond Discovery, The national Academies
http://www.beyonddiscovery.org/content/view.article.asp?a=203/A>


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Plastics

Plastics Science Education Activities - from Hands-on Plastics, American Plastics Council
http://www.teachingplastics.org/hands_on_plastics/activities/index.html#

History of Polymers and Plastics for Teachers - from Hands-on Plastics, American Plastics Council
http://www.teachingplastics.org/hands_on_plastics/intro_to_plastics/teachers.html

Plastics Resource from the American Plastics Council - includes How plastics are made, Plastics - The Basics and Uses of Plastics (Plastics 101), also Recycling and Beyond
http://www.plasticsresource.com:80/

Plastics processing - from TEchnology in Australia, University of Melbourne
http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/tia/662.html

An introduction to plastics - from Calibre Plastics
http://www.calibre.co.nz/plastics.htm

Therapeutic Plastics - an Exploration from Scientific American
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=0005B91E-4BFD-1C75-9B81809EC588EF21&pageNumber=1&catID=4


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Recycling and the Impact on the environment

All About Plastic - from Virtual Recycling
http://www.virtualrecycling.com/main.asp?contentID=61

Recycling Plastics - from Virtual Recycling
http://www.virtualrecycling.com/main.asp?contentID=60

PVC waste and recycling - solving a problem or selling a poison? - a Greenpeace Fact Sheet
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/campaigns/toxics/polyvinyl-chloride/pvc-waste

The poison plastic - a Greenpeace Fact Sheet
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/campaigns/toxics/polyvinyl-chloride/the-poison-plastic

Plastics - from Visy Recycling
http://www.visy.com.au/divisions/category_page.aspx?did=1&sid=3&cid=89&scid=90

What do those recycling Numbers mean? - from The Macrogalleria
http://www.pslc.ws/macrog/work/recycle.htm

Plastic: Recycling, Downcycling - Peace and Environment News
http://perc.ca/waste-line/rrr/plastic.html

How Green are green plastics? - from Scientific American
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=0007B0AE-88AF-13FF-88AF83414B7F0000


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Biodegradability

Making packaging greener – biodegradable plastics - from NOVA, Australian Academies of Science
http://www.science.org.au/nova/061/061key.htm

Say Good-Bye to Plastic - an article from the archives of Wired News
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/10.07/start.html?pg=8

Biodegradable - from WorldWise, Eco-friendly resources for everyday living, has a table showing relative times various materials take to decompose
http://www.worldwise.com/biodegradable.html

Eco-plastic - American Communications Foundation
http://www.acfnewsource.org/environment/eco-plastic.html


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