Our project

Lesson 4

What is a plastic?

What are the problems with throwing away plastic?

Making polymers

• Watch Ms G do the demo again.

• How do we explain what is happening in the experiment?

• When the two ingredients are added in the correct order, they react to form a polymer

Making models of polymers

• To make a model of the nylon polymer from the demo, one person should add paperclips of alternating colour, whilst the other person extends the chain away from the mixture.

• What do the different colour paperclips represent?

Time to be famous…• Make a 2-3 minute film teaching someone what a

plastic is.• Use the paper clips as props• Use the whiteboards and pens for captions• Speak clearly!• Keywords: polymer, monomer, polymerisation,

irreversible• Start with “a plastic is also called a polymer”• Don’t forget to include the problems with throwing

away plastic! (made from oil, oil running out, uses lots of energy making plastic, people don’t recycle much…)

Evaluate your film

• What was good about it?

• What could have been better?

• What would you need (props etc) to improve it further?