Notes
Before doing anything else, refer to the experiment information sheets and read them carefully.

About the experiment with expanded polystyrene (information sheet 7), the test of information sheet No. 7 with expanded polystyrene beads containing a pore-forming agent does not work: there is no increase in volume when they are thrown in boiling water!

1) The experiment on the expansion of the beads works well if boiling water is used.
If a tea infuser is used to make a ball, ideally a paper clip or metal clip should be used to keep the tea infuser closed while the polystyrene expands.
Note: if you use a completely closed metal ball, the ball should be left for more than 10 minutes in the boiling water.

2) Note: the expanded polystyrene can only be used for about one year. After that, the pentane has escaped from the product. The bottle should always be properly closed after use, and kept in a cool place.

About the experiments with polyvinyl alcohol (information sheets 5 and 6) (+ photos), the quantity of polyvinyl alcohol (for experiment no. 5) is very small (a few grammes, while it is necessary to weigh out 75 g for the solution!) What is this product, and how can it be obtained? Is the 2 nd bottle of polyvinyl alcohol (for experiment no. 6) the same as the previous one? (The texture of the powder appears different).

The quantity of product supplied in each batch is sufficient to perform the experiments.
This is polyvinyl alcohol.

To obtain this product, just return the order form by fax to Eklyps (see order form).

The product contained in the 2 nd bottle is indeed different.
First of all, the polyvinyl alcohol and the borax should be dissolved in the prescribed volumes of water. To do that, it is necessary to work at boiling point and stir at all times (a heating magnetic mixer would be ideally suitable). It needs to be heated for at least one hour.

In information sheet 6, slime is produced by using the polyvinyl alcohol in a 4% solution. 10 ml of the aqueous solution should be poured into a small beaker then delicately pour in the acetone down the wall of the beaker so as to obtain 2 distinct layers. To draw a thread, a spatula should be dipped into the middle of the beaker, then turned delicately until a slight whitish cloudiness forms. At that time, it is possible to draw delicately threads of 10, 20 or 30 cm long.

If this solution is used to make slime with the 2% borax solution, a very compact slime is obtained.

It would be ideal to use only the polyvinyl alcohol from experiment 6 and make it into a 3% solution. With this solution, it is possible to obtain an excellent slime and threads, if sufficient precautions are taken.

About the experiment with the nylon (information sheet 3), the case became very dirty due to the pot of hexamethylene diamine. What should I do ?

>>> To avoid hexamethylene gaining in mass, the solution must be made immediately.

Indeed, under some air humidity conditions, hexamethylene "increases in mass".? The product comes out of the bottle and expands.

In the bottle used in the attaché case, there were 18 grams of hexamethylenediamine. 6 grams of water were removed, which were dissolved in 250 ml of water. By using this solution and a solution of home-made sebacyl chloride (made 6 months ago, but kept in a well-sealed glass bottle), there is no problem in drawing nylon threads. On the other hand, with solutions kept in plastic bottles, the sebacyl chloride changes if the solution has not been used quickly, and it is not possible to draw threads.

N.B. To take out 6 grams of hexamethylene diamine, you have to squeeze the sides of the plastic bottle; detach the bottle and put the open bottle in a sufficient volume of water until it dissolves completely.

N.B. We have removed this product from the case and replaced it with a bottle containing 2 rubber balls. Once bounces and the other does not.
However, it is possible to obtain the 2 products to make nylon from Eklyps once a year (storage problems) or from www.jeulin.fr.

I want to perform the experiments concerning the polyurethane. Where can I find the components to perform the experiment?

In Visé, from the MC Technics company, rue de Maastricht 69, 4600 Visé (Tel. 04 379 51 01).

Degradable plastics are a reality. How can I hold a class or workshop on this topic.

You will find all the information on this subject in information sheet 13 in the brochure.