[Note: Paige wrote up her first experiment with help from Daddy to use the computer]

Summary

We put beads in water. One was read, one was blue. Both beads got bigger. Also one broke, and one sank.

The beads are polymers. What are polymers?

Method

We measured the size of 2 polymer beads. Then we put the beads in water, and measured their size again [at regular intervals].

Fig. 1: Initial Size

Data

We measured the size of the beads after putting them in water:

Fig. 2: Bead size over time

Results

The beads got bigger the longer they were in the water:

Fig. 3: Growth over time

Both beads grew more the longer we left in the water. The red bead grew more. The red bead also broke. Here are some pictures:

Fig. 4: Bigger Beads

Conclusion

Polymer beads get bigger in water. We don’t know why, but maybe someone can explain it. Also, the red bead broke and was even bigger than the blue bead. Why?

There are lots of things you can do with polymer beads and water