Science Week 4 - Investigating the properties of different plastics.   

Today we are going to be thinking about different types of plastic. Plastic is a man-made material. Over the last 100 years scientists have developed many different types of plastics which have different properties. These include the plastics which we use to make clingfilm, lycra for our fabrics and plastic carrier bags, which are all made from flexible types of plastic. Rigid types of plastic are used to make window frames, furniture and machine parts. Plastics are mainly made from 2 chemicals, called carbon(C) and Hydrogen (H). These chemicals are joined together in long chains. There are many different types of plastic chains and these are called polymers.

Click here for a video clip to watch.

Have you ever wondered how plastic is made? Watch this video to find out.

We can tell what sort of plastic an object is made from by looking at the symbol on the plastic. Below is a guide to lots of different plastics.

Plastic objects do not always have the same properties. This is also the same for different types of metal and wood. The type of metal, wood or plastic is always carefully chosen so that it has the best properties for the job.

Your task today is to go on a plastic hunt and find objects made of plastic which have  their symbol on them which tells you which type of plastic they are made of. Record each one on the table below.

Extension activity: Design a poster to encourage people to recycle plastic. Remember that it needs to be eye-catching and the message must be clear. Please submit your work on Firefly as a task for marking. The homework can be brought to your science class next week and we will go through it together.

Homework: Calculate the averages on the sheet. Also find and circle the anomaly. (To find an average we add all the numbers up and divide the answer by the number of measurements we added. So we have 4 measurements each time so we must divide  the total of each row by 4.)

Extension video: