How to make a car out of plastic bottles - (Powered Car / Electric Toy)
What types of plastic are used to build a car How are they synthesized and recycled Marlene Rau and Peter Nentwig introduce two project activities Chemie im Kontext.
Many teens are interested in cars, which contain many different plastic polymers produced from crude oil or renewable materials An interest in cars can be used to introduce the topic of plastics and polymers, for example in organic chemistry.
Take your students to watch What they already know the plastics used to build cars they Qu'aimeraient cars to discover that they could categorize their ideas in different parts of the car see Table 1, below.
Is that the plastic are lower car fuel consumption ecological, recycling of plastic parts.
The important point is that the components of a car have specific requirements EGA seat belts must be strong but flexible, which means that their constituents need specific features, such material should not tear, if certain types materials, for example polyethylene terephthalate need to use if students do not come with these connections themselves, ask them why one type of plastic is not enough to build a car.
Figure 1: Plastics in automotive construction Acrylnitrile-styrene butadiene terpolymer of polyethylene terephthalate 31 1 Polycarbonate-Acrylonitrile styrene butadiene polymer 7 7 Polypropylene Acrylic glass 6 polybutylene terephthalate polyacetal 5 4 10 Polycarbonate Polyamide 31 of the image courtesy the Leibniz Institute for Science and mathematics education.
The activities in this section address two subjects in Table 1 in plastic for the rear lights and how plastics are recycled from car Each activity consists of a spreadsheet information and background activities are part of a lesson plan see box more suitable for students aged 16 years, which should work in groups of two or three allow one or two courses of 45 minutes for each activity.
Chemie im Kontext chemistry in context is a project coordinated by the Leibniz Institute for Education Science and Mathematics at the University of Kiel, Germany Between 2002 and 2008, chemistry teachers, other educators and scientists representatives of school authorities developed units for teaching chemistry education for all levels and types of schools, linking the academic requirements to everyday contexts Examples of resources and recommendations for the development of additional documents are available online w1 a set of resources produced by teachers can be ordered free of charge, and four lesson plans are available online while German manual and teacher's guide in German published by Cornelsen Verlag.
This article is an excerpt from one of the lesson plans The complete course plan includes six different activities, one for each of the boxes in Table 1.
acrylic glass rear light Image courtesy of BASF 1998.
Car lights have plastic covers to keep them clean and dry, and in some cases, to give a red eg color to the rear lights and orange for indicators The material used must be transparent, lightweight, specious, easily molded and reasonably strong in this activity, we will summarize the plastic used, methyl methacrylate or PMMA poly.
Poly methyl methacrylate is commonly called acrylic glass or plexiglass, and is one of a group of plastics called polymers Their common feature is that their basic monomer units contain one or more double bonds, under the influence of radicals molecules with an unpaired free electron, these units undergo radical polymerization in the long chain macromolecules.
The characteristics of the macromolecule dependent side chains at its disposal, which in turn depends on the monomer used By using different monomers in the formation of polymer plastics, can be created plastics for different applications in automobiles, for example, bulky side chains of PMMA prevent the plastic material forming crystalline structures as it solidifies, which refract light instead, such amorphous plastics are transparent, making them useful for lighter glass substitutes, more malleable and less prone to bursting.
radical polymerization can be illustrated with the fuel tank of the vehicle, which is made of polyethylene Polyethylene is formed from ethene ethylene, C 2 H 4 monomers in a reaction initiated by dibenzoyl When peroxide is heated to 90 ° C, dibenzoyl slots in two peroxide groups If one of these radicals binds to a molecule of ethene, the breaking of the double bond in the molecule of ethene and a new larger radical is formed in this manner, a chain reaction begins, which prevents that, when two radicals react with each other.
D stops polymerization Click image to enlarge.
Figure 2 polymerization steps courtesy of the Leibniz Institute for Science and Mathematics Education.
In our experience, we will use the benzoyl peroxide to initiate a similar process instead of ethene to form polyethylene, use 2-methylpropenoic to produce poly methyl methacrylate.
Sheet of a synthesis of a transparent polymer.
The resulting plastic courtesy of the Leibniz Institute for Science and Mathematics Education.
Methyl-2 methylpropenoic also known as methyl methacrylate; C 5 H 8 O 2.
Use gloves, safety glasses and work under a suction hood 2-methyl methylpropenoic, dibenzoyl peroxide and acetone are flammable; Acetone is also an irritant All three must be used with caution remaining Sudan Red must not be disposed of in wastewater.
0 Weigh 2 g of dibenzoyl peroxide in the test tube.
To color the resulting plastic, add some pretty Sudan Red to cover the tip of the spatula.
Place the tube in a beaker filled with water at 90 ° C and place it on the hot plate; see Figure 3 below.
Figure 3 The experimental device courtesy of the Leibniz Institute for Science and Mathematics Education.
The reaction takes about 20 minutes, after which the mixture should be visibly viscous At the same time, read the information under plastic Polymerization for the parking lights and work on the reaction mechanism for the radical polymerization of methyl-2 -methylpropenoate.
Pour the solution into the aluminum support of a tea light.
If the plastic begins to solidify in the test tube, you can dissolve it again with acetone You can then continue the experiment as described, allowing more time for the acetone to evaporate.
Cover the aluminum support with a watch glass to maintain the hot plastic and cure more quickly.
As poly methyl methacrylate solidify for 24 h, then remove the aluminum support.
How do you test the properties of your plastic and compare them to those of glass.
Figure 4 The calorific value of various fuels; lr of heating oil; plastic waste such as olefins; lignite Click image for larger image courtesy of the Leibniz Institute for Science and Mathematics Education.
In this activity, students first learn about how plastics from cars can be recycled, so try out to recycle transforming a plastic bottle in a piece of plastic shaped.
What happens when we are done with a car we can think of lots of rusty cars and old tires, destined for landfill, but in fact a lot of auto parts are recycled to recover valuable resources, particularly metals .
Plastics in a car can also be recycled in three ways as parts, chemicals or fuel.
Cars can be repaired using old plastic parts such as bumpers that parties get older, however, their characteristics change, making them unsuitable for reuse solar radiation, for example, makes most plastic brittle Fortunately, some plastic parts can be melted and reshaped into articles for which the quality requirements are lower, such as fence posts or garden benches.
Through chemical processes, some polymers can be divided into their component monomers, which are then available for new syntheses plastics can also be used to produce other resources for the chemical industry; for example, a ton of some types of plastic used yields about 600 kg of methanol, which is both an important resource for the plastics industry and used in fuel cells to release energy.
shredded plastics can be used directly as fuel, replacing oil and coal, for example in factories of energy waste processing They can also replace coke used for iron production in furnaces see Figure 4.
Worksheet 2 plastic recycling in the classroom.
In this activity you recycle plastic waste into pieces of a bottle-shaped plastic what you do with these is limited by your keychain imagination, pendants, Christmas tree decorations.
Cookie cutters hippokrat courtesy. iStockphoto
plastic waste PET preferably of mineral water bottles.
Use safety glasses and work with the hood Do not let the flame to come into direct contact with the plastic Be careful not to cut yourself.
Use the knife to shred the plastic waste as small as possible.
Cover the bottom and sides of the cookie cutters with paper and fill to a depth of about 0 5 cm with shredded plastic waste If you like, try adding a small amount of dye for plastic waste.
Placing the cutting elements on the wire mesh above the gas burner and heat slowly until the plastic material melts.
Once cooled, remove the plastics material and removing the sheet.
Compare the characteristics of the plastic before and after recycling What conclusion can you draw about plastic recycling.
In your group, discuss the three recycling methods described under the heading of plastic recycling cars and compare the possible applications of the Reflect experience you have done this are possible applications for your plastic.
At ESRF ESRF of the high performance fibers such as Kevlar plastic have been studied for over a decade five times stronger than steel, weight for weight, Kevlar is used in bicycle tires and bullet-proof vests , racing sails and mooring lines.
Much of the work of the ESRF on high performance fibers involves their morphology skin-heart structural differences between the outer layers of the fiber and its center These differences can affect the mechanical properties of the fiber, so that understanding the skin-core morphology may enable the fiber properties to be adjusted during the manufacturing process.
ESRF's microfocus X-ray beams are commonly used for further study of these remarkable materials, for both academic and industrial research This is because no other techniques provide similar information without cutting the fiber and potentially change its microstructure internal For more information, see Capellas Espuny, 2009.
ESRF is a member of EIROforum w3 publisher of science in school.
The chemistry is generally considered by students as distant and dangerous, but we're surrounded and plays a major role in improving our quality of life activities as described in this article, which use everyday materials can help to increase the public appreciation of chemistry and to generate interest for it among students.
These could be used in organic chemistry course and also in biology, to discuss the importance of recycling Although the authors suggest that activities for students aged 16, they could also be used with younger students aged 14.
plastic materials within the polymerization and recycling of automobiles, plastics, cars, polymerization.