Katherine won the Germanium Zone in March 2012, here’s how she spent the £500:
When I won I’m a Scientist in March 2012, my goal was to create a set of chemistry experiments that were portable so that I could escape my office once in a while and do chemistry with enthusiastic students.
I’ve used the £500 from I’m a Scientist to set up three different experiments. The first looks at superabsorbent polymers, and compares three different types to work out which makes the best fake snow. These polymers are also used in nappies and to help plant pots retain water during dry spells. This is a good activity for wintertime and was take out to a Chemistry at Work day at the Potteries Museum, Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent in December 2012.
A student having a go at the slime experiment
Superabsorbent polymers are good fun, but not really very summery – who wants to talk about snow in the middle of June? The second activity is making slime by cross-linking poly(vinyl alcohol) with borax. Poly(vinyl alcohol) is basically school glue, and borax can be used to make wonderful slimy stuff, particularly when coloured with some food dye. This activity has been used at Keele University’s community day and at the Royal Three Counties show in Malvern in 2013. Between those two activities, we’ve made about 700 bags of slime using about 15 litres of PVA solution!
While I am a polymer chemist, I’m also very interested in why chemical reactions happen and what we can do to make them happen faster through catalysts. The final activity developed to be portable asks the question ‘is faster better?’. At a Chemistry at Work Day at RAF Cosford Museum in June 2013, we used yeast, solid potassium iodide and potassium iodide solution to investigate how fast hydrogen peroxide breaks down. The reaction is catalysed by the yeast or potassium iodide and hydrogen peroxide breaks down into water and oxygen. With a little help from some washing up liquid, the speed of reaction can be measured by how fast the foam is produced.
The I’m A Scientist money has been put to good use buying the kit necessary to run these activities in the future as well. I’m hoping to continue to attend these kinds of events with the kit and perhaps be able to arrange to take it into schools in the next year.
