Bouncy Ball Lab Report

Introduction: The point of this lab is to analyze data and draw conclusions that will be used to base the selection of optimal combination of the reactants to create the best possibly structured bouncy ball using the materials available at hand. Borax acts as a cross-linker for the polymer molecules in the polyvinyl acetate which makes chains of molecules stay together when you pick them up [2]. The balls will then be tested for durability and quality through a series of tests thought up based on certain conditions needing to be met. Having the balls put through these varying conditions will show how optimal the choice of combination of the reactants used to make the final ball really was [4].

Materials/Methods:

Borax
Polyvinyl acetate

Then 4 mL of borax were added. The other ratios, being 25:5:8mL, 10:2:3mL, 6:1:2mL respectively, tested in the day prior did not stand to be quite as durable or stable and fell apart overnight. The ingredients were then allowed to interact on their own for 10-15 seconds and then stirred together to fully mix. Once the mixture became impossible to stir, it was taken out of the beaker and then started to be molded into a ball. The bounce height and elasticity of the ball under normal environmental conditions were recorded. The height was tested through means of dropping the ball from a certain height repeatedly, about 60.96 cm, and then the height the ball bounced on the first bounce was recorded through several trials and the averaged. The elasticity was then tested by gripping two opposite ends of the ball and pulling them apart slowly until torn and the length of the ball at that point was

So the balls would therefore be tested under the weather conditions of the regions in which the balls would be transported through as closely as possible. At the start of the transport the balls would be under the conditions of the dry heat of New Mexico reaching temperatures of 46ºC in the summer which derived the dry heat test performed by putting the ball on a watch glass over a beaker of boiling water acquired and maintained using a hot plate as done in step 4 of the procedure [1]. The half way point of the transport, around Utah, would most nearly be comparative to the normal conditions of the room held at standard room temperature. Lastly, freezing weather condition aspect of the end portion of the transport is replicated with the submerging of the ball in a beaker of ice in an attempt to get as close to the Canadian-Alaskan region temperatures of the travels that the ball would be experiencing, 1ºC [1]. This being performed in the final part of the procedure, step 6. This will all show how the ratio of reactants in the selected combination really comes into play in an everyday life situation such as material or product transport across the