Link UP! The Challenge

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Challenge 1: Make an alginate gel

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Equipment:

Disposable cups

Tea spoon

Dessert spoon

500 mL measuring jug

Kitchen balance

Table covering e.g. plastic sheet

200 mL squirty bottle (optional)

Materials:

Vinegar

Gaviscon liquid

Indigestion tablets containing calcium carbonate e.g. Rennie (not chewy ones!). Weigh a tablet – you’ll want 2-3 g 

Food colouring

  1. Pour 100 mL vinegar into a cup
  2. Break up the indigestion tablets – put one tablet in the dessertspoon and use the teaspoon to crush it.
  3. Add the crushed tablets to the vinegar. Stir with the teaspoon until they have dissolved. Note down any observations you make.
  4. In another cup, mix 50 mL Gaviscon with food colouring of your choice (but make sure you only use 1-2 drops!)
  5. Use the dessertspoon to slowly drip the coloured Gaviscon into the vinegar solution. 

What do you notice? Can you adjust how you add the Gaviscon to make different shapes? Try to flick blobs in, add from the squirty bottle, or pour it in down the back of a spoon!

Challenge 2: Make a model drug delivery system

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Equipment:

Disposable cups

Tea spoon

Dessert spoon

Table covering e.g. plastic sheet

Kitchen roll

Materials:

PVA glue (clear if possible)

Bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)

Glitter

Eye wash (check the label to make sure it contains sodium borate or boric acid – we used Optrex Multi-action Eye Wash)

Vinegar

Water

Marker pen

  1. Put one dessertspoon of PVA glue in a cup
  2. Add a pinch of baking soda and mix well with the tea spoon
  3. Add glitter and mix well
  4. Add one teaspoon of eye wash and mix well
  5. Check out your gel! Tip it into your hands and mix it with your fingers.

Think about the texture and appearance of the gel – how is it different to your starting materials?

  1. Make another batch of gel, using the instructions above.
  2. Half-fill a cup with vinegar, and half-fill another cup with water.
  3. Put a piece of gel in each cup. Note the time.
  4. Come back after 30 minutes and note down any differences between the two gels. 

Come back again after 60 minutes. Note any differences between the two gels.

Let's discuss!
Image collage

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What polymers can you see in the world around you?

Can you think of any other gels you have encountered?

https://app.sli.do/event/upsnjy5b

Celebrate!