Eric Wan

Meece - 7th
9/21/2017

Trackwork Reflection #1

To better understand what I was researching I had to first learn the basics. I attended a
week long summer program at the US Naval Academy from June 10th to June 15th where I did
several labs and sat in a lecture by a chemistry professor. The labs were various simple labs
designed to demonstrate properties of chemical compounds. In terms of applications to my
research topic, one lab involved the tensile strength and other physical properties of a polymer
compound as well as another lab involving a polymers ability to retain its elasticity under
various stresses. In addition to these labs, we were also lectured over the fundamentals of
chemistry and polymer chemistry. Some topics we discussed pertaining to Polymer Chemistry
were Cross - Linking, Covalent bonding, and Ionic bonds.

One of the two labs which were relevant to my topic was a lab where we examined a
polymers tensile strength. This lab involved mixing various compounds together into two
beakers and heating the mixture under a bunsen burner. We then had to allow the mixture to cool
and then, using two stirring rods, carefully scoop a wad of each compound and touch them
together. The stirring rods were then pulled apart, and a meter stick was brought to see how far
we had managed to pull the compounds apart without breaking the connection between the two
rods. The second lab involved the creation of a gel like substance. Various compounds were
poured into a beaker and stirred, and eventually the solution thickened and a gel formed. The gel
was elastic and could bounce, and the professor noted the various properties of the polymer that
enabled it to do so. We learned that the polymer did not experience much cross linkage and
hence exhibited behaviour much like rubber. However, after increased stress the gel became less
responsive.

As for the lecture, we sat in a room within the science building within the academy and
watched as a professor (Professor Ferrante) gave a two hour long lecture over the fundamentals
of chemistry. This lecture included a background and basics on the various pieces of information
that make up the base of polymer chemistry, such as bonding, polymer properties, how polymers
are formed and destroyed, macromolecules such as proteins and the reaction and chemistry of
polymers. The lecture overall was highly informative and at some points was a review to the
background I had developed through AP Chemistry and Organic Chemistry. I did however learn
some new things involving the interactions of polymers with other polymers such as how
branching occurs in long chains. We also discussed more chemistry outside of class and labs on
topics such as Polymer Networks and mechanical properties of polymers and how to test them.
The mathematics and equations behind some of the properties was quite simple and I was very
surprised at the relative simplicity in comparison to some of the more nightmarish branches of
chemistry such as thermodynamics.

In addition to academic discussions we also had subsequent conversations after the

lecture and labs regarding my capstone subject and pointers. We touched on various sub topics
within Polymer Chemistry that I could pursue and I ultimately learned a good deal of chemistry
from my week at the Naval Academy.