r'
GALE GO ,
PORTUGUES
,
DE QUIMICA
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Ano lnt e m ~lo n~ l dil
QUiMICA
2011
XVII ENCONTRO
GALEGO-PORTUGUES
DE QUlMICA
Pontevedra, 9 al11 de noviembre de 2011
Ana lnternacional da
QUi MICA
.
"
I
XVII ENCONTRO
GALEGO-PORTUGU ES
DE QUfMICA
COMISION DIRECTIVA
Baltasar Romao de Castro
Jose Luis Costa Lima
Jose Luis Figueiredo
Anxe l Pahino Vazquez
Pelayo Rubido Muiiiz
Antonio Macho Senra
COMISION CIENTfFICA
Michael Thompson
Emilia Tojo Suarez
Moises Canle L6pez
Herminia Bollain Rodriguez
Artur Silva
Joaquim Luis Faria
COMISION ORGANIZADORA
Pelayo Rubido Muiiiz (Coordinador)
Gonzalo Mucientes lglesias
Rafael Alvarez Vazquez
M~
Luisa Fernandez Feal
Jose M~ Fernandez Solis
Elia Alonso Rodrfguez
Deposita Legal: PO 567-2011
XV II Encontro Galego-Po rtugullls de Qutm ica
ED-02
Polymer Laboratory: An educational app1·oach
1
1
M.F. Barrciro , P.M. Plascncia , M..J. Afonso 1, A. Silva-' and 0. Ferrcira 1
1
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LSII£1/PIJ, Clllllf'/1.1' d<: Sal/Ill ApoldnitJ, Ap 1/.l.l, 53{)/.1)57 Bragwtra. /'ortugal
" ESTGI/Pfl. 'wnJ'II.I' de Sail/a Apolrini 1. Ap 113-1, 5311/-857 lira.~!lll('<l. Ponugnl
Escu/n S/3 Ahudc• d<: flnral, ilr<:nida c;,.,ll'ml Humberto Ddgaclu, 5300-/6 7 llragrlll('ll. f'rmugal
Polymers are part of o ur everyday li ves. They assume di ffe re nt forms such as plastics. f1bres
foams and e lasto mers. Its prevalence in mode rn society and impact o n seve ra l ind ustrial
sectors is we ll recogni zed am.l motivates the deve lo pment of differe nt educatio nal tools to
s uppo rt the demonstration of polymer che mistry principles, very ofte n hard to rationali ze.
This work aims to prese nt th e work developed w ithin the sc ie nce com municati on project
CV/PVIJ 1.3 86-La borat6rio J e Polimeros (Poly mer Laboratory ), financed by Cie ncia Viva
(2006-2DO!:n. Three modules have been developed conce rning the following main thema tics:
( I ) Polymer con~:epts; (2) Polymer sy nthesis and (3 ) Polymer properties. They were des igned
to be devoted to a wi de target publi c including students from primary and secondary sc hools
to undergraduate le vels, and genera l soc iety.
Several de mo nstrati o n/experi me ntal kits were deve lo ped. Concepts sud1 as polymer
arc hite~: ture (linea r, branched and crosslinked) and po lymer synt hes is procedure s (ste p 1·ersus
chain growth polymerizati on) ca n be demonstrated by usin g the "K it-rnm.lels". Here the
stude nt is ab le to c reate seve ra l models representative of the concepts to be illustrated.
Synthesis exampl es include the pre paration of linea r pol y mers to networks. In the first case
Nylon 6,6 synthes is is proposed and, in the second o ne, polyurethane foam (che mi cal
crosslinkin g) and a IPVA polymer slime ( ionic crosslinking) ca n be expe ri enced. Among
po lymer properti es. several demonstrations can be mentioned: ( I) Dissolution l'er.ws
swe lling, (2) Swelling vo lume l'ersus cross linkin g degree, (3) Hydrophobic l'asus
hydrop hilic po lyme rs and (4) Pol ymer identif-Icati on.
Follow ing the ex perien~:c ncquired with the form e r project. the work has continued,
ex panding the developed concepts. The de monstration/expe rimen tal kits were improved . an
identification logo was created, and the production of a book of protocols and a web page are
currently in course.
Acl<nowledgments
.acional para a C uhura "iC ntifi~a c T l!c nol(>g ica - Ci0ncia V iva. w ith in the
fram~ work of Proj~L'I CV/P VI/ 13Rfi. To Suraia Madum from C IPW~b- clllm 1k lnovac;;io ~ Proj~c1os Web do
Financial fundin g from Age ncia
IPB for <:reat ing lh c"Labnrnl<irio de Polimerns" logo.
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