Vanishing Styrofoam
You won't believe your eyes when you see what happens to ordinary
packing peanuts when they come in contact with a solvent called acetone.
They seem to just "disappear" like magic. In fact, the Styrofoam reacts with
the solvent to reveal the fact that Styrofoam is made up of long strands of
styrene molecules with lots of air pockets. This demonstration also
reminds us about the importance of reducing our use of Styrofoam and
replacing it with more Earth-friendly packing materials.
Materials
For the traditional Vanishing Peanuts demo, you'll need some Styrofoam
packing peanuts and a few Styrofoam cups. Gather up a glass jar and
some acetone solvent (this chemical can only be used by adults. Read all
warnings and use as directed).
For the Enviro-Head demo, you'll need to find a Styrofoam head used to
display wigs and a sheet of Styrofoam insulation. You can find the
Styrofoam sheet at your local hardware store in the area where insulation
is sold. This product comes in a variety of thicknesses - Steve used 3/4"
for the demo in the video.
The final part of the demonstration uses starch peanuts that easily
dissolve in water.
WARNING: Please follow all of the manufacturer's safety precautions
listed on the container of acetone. This solvent is very flammable. Keep
away from all flames.
Experiment
Vanishing Peanuts
Use a solvent like acetone to show that polystyrene packaging material is
mostly air. The acetone easily dissolves the polystyrene, leaving very little
residue. Even though the experiment is called Melting Peanuts, the
packaging material is actually dissolving (not melting) in the acetone
(melting requires heat). Engage students in a peanut race by seeing
which team can fill a bowl first with polystyrene peanuts. Of course, one
bowl will secretly contain acetone! Use extreme care when handling
acetone — follow the manufacturer’s directions for proper use and
disposal.
Air Head - Vanishing Styrofoam Strips
A Styrofoam head used to display wigs is placed on the table along with
with long strips of Styrofoam board, approximately 4 cm wide and 70 cm
long (but this can vary). The demonstrator using a Sharpie pen to write
down anything important she wants the "head" to know. For this demo, the
three R's of recycling were written down on each of three strips - REDUCE,
RECYCLE and REUSE. You'll also need a 250 mL beaker or similar size
glass.
1.The first step is the trickiest one - to carve a huge hole in the top of the
Styrofoam head. You want the hole big enough to hold the 250 mL beaker.
For those non-metric people, you'll want a glass that holds about 8
ounces of liquid. You can use an electric drill with a door knob hole cutter
blade to get the hole started, but it's going to take a little patience until the
hole is just the right size.
2.Fill the beaker with 200 mL of acetone (about 6 oz.) and carefully lower
the beaker into the hole. Be careful not to spill any acetone on Styrofoam
head or it too will dissolve!
3.You'll need a sharp knife (and an adult helper if you're a kid reading this)
to cut the Styrofoam board into long strips. The width of each strip is
determined by the diameter of the glass container in the head (250 mL
beaker or otherwise). Cut as many strips as you feel the urge to make
disappear.
Important Note - Some of the Styrofoam board material has a thin, plastic
covering on both sides. Remove any plastic wrapping before doing the
demo.
4.Use a Sharpie pen to write down any words or phrases or whatever you
want to "cram" into the Stryo-Head.
5.It's showtime! The story line is up to you... be creative. When it's time to
make the strip vanish, slowly push the strip into the beaker of acetone,
being careful not to make the acetone erupt onto the Styrofoam head. The
illusion is great as it looks like the strip is "melting" into the head.
Starch-based Packaging Material
As a science teacher or an environmentalist, you are also aware of the
bad effects that Styrofoam has on our environment. That’s why many
companies have turned to starch packing peanuts as a substitute for
Styrofoam. Instead of taking up space in the landfills, starch peanuts
dissolve in water to make landfill gravy!
Magic Noodles
There’s a product call Magic Noodles that help students learn the
importance of environmentally friendly packing material while using their
creativity. Here’s how it works... Simply wet one end of the colored starch
peanut with a dab of water and stick it to another peanut. Build houses,
hats, glasses, letters, people, a medieval castle with flying buttresses...
just build anything! Use the colored starch peanuts as an icebreaker or
team building activity with adults or kids. They’re great for staff meetings!
How does it work?
Currently about 200 million cubic feet per year of polystyrene "loose fill"
(packaging material) is used in the United States. Although some
companies try and reuse the packing material, most of the polystyrene
loose fill is disposed of in a landfill. As students of science, we need to
carefully examine such products and ask these questions: How is the
material made, and what happens to it after it is used? One of the
properties of polystyrene loose fill is that it does not compress easily.
While this is beneficial when trying to protect something from being
crushed or broken, it poses a problem when trying to dispose of it in a
landfill. As a result, environmentally conscious companies sought a
solution to these problems. One such solution is called Eco-Foam loose
fill. It provides the ease of use and cushioning of polystyrene, but gives us
many other re-use or disposal options for the future. It readily
decomposes in water and can be re-used for your own packages, or you
can dispose of it by putting it in your compost pile, watering it into your
lawn, or washing it down the sink.
Eco-Foam is almost entirely made from an annually renewable
resource… corn! The remaining ingredient is a water-soluble organic
polymer called "polyvinyl alcohol." This organic polymer is made from
carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen… the building blocks of life. When polyvinyl
alcohol is exposed to water, naturally occurring bacteria feed on this
organic polymer. Under wet conditions, the bacteria will use the starch
(which is also composed of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen) and polyvinyl
alcohol as food to begin the cycle of life again.
Many people feel that the answer to our solid waste problem is recycling.
While this method will go a long way to help our solid waste problems, it
is not the whole solution. One good suggestion is to use as little of the
material as possible. Secondly, it is makes sense to use a natural product
(instead of a synthetic product) that will break down when we are finished
using it. We must remember how to re-use!
Experiment From Steve Spangler Science
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