First Week Activities!
Making Paper from Plants
Objective:
Students will learn to gather raw plant fiber and process it into paper
Learning Targets:
-
Students will learn what kinds of plants can be used to make paper
-
Students will learn how to process the fiber they gather into paper
-
Students will learn that different substances react with the same chemicals differently
-
Students will learn how temperature impacts the rate of reaction
Background:
Chemistry is used all around us to make the things we use every day. one of those thing that we will be using a lot this school year is paper. the most important part of paper is a substance called cellulose. Cellulose is found in plants and is protected by lignin (C9H10O2). Cellulose is great for paper-making because of its adequate tensile strength and suppleness, or its flexibility. Not only that but the fibers that comprise cellulose bond just so perfectly after being wetted and dried that it creates what we know and use as paper.
To go from having plant matter to having paper we have to use chemistry to break down the lignin and free the cellulose fibers. Lignin is broken down in basic solutions for this we will use washing soda. heating a solution will speed the rate of reaction so we will heat the whole thing over a stove top.
In conventional paper-making, trees are used as the source of cellulose. However, trees around the world are being harvested at unsustainable rates and there are alternative. For more info on the sustainability perspective of this project head to it's agriculture page.
In this activity I will show you how to make paper using nothing but household chemicals and grass clippings!
Materials
Access to usable plants
Stainless steel or enamel pot (at least one gallon)
Washing soda, soda ash, or lye
Moulds and Deckles
Vat
Old sheets or table cloths
Scoops
Plastic buckets with handles
Glassware Identification
Objective:
Students will learn to identify the glassware they will be using for labs throughout the year.
Learning Targets:
-
Students will learn to identify laboratory glassware
-
Students will develop an organizational system for the storage of the glassware so they are familiar with it's location
Materials
Glassware
cabinets/drawers
Background:
It is very important to know the materials you will be using before you start a lab. We will be using this glassware through out the year and you will need to be able to locate and identify them for labs. The last individual to use the room did not have an organizational system for the glassware so we will have to establish one ourselves.