Paint Chemistry
By Gabriella Vasquez, Emma Rice, Chase McAndrew, Kaleb Ryan
For this assignment, we were asked to make a product for our newly constructed STEM building that would be presented at the opening ceremony. This product needed to combine elements of art and chemistry to result in a four piece physical art display. Our creativity was allowed to run wild during this process with only a few requirements: four art pieces must me made, we must be able to explain the chemical process, and there needs to be in depth understanding on the concepts involved. The below pictures are of the front and back of our collective piece and the presentation to the right helps to explain all of the chemistry.
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As you can see, the four pieces of art are the four letters in our beloved program. We also included a 3-D representation with clay of the reaction on a molecular level and small doodles that correspond with the four subjects. The chemistry in our project was from the paints we made by harnessing chemical reactions and making pigmented precipitants.
Our process for this project included mixing chemical solutions together to create a precipitants, drying out that reactions, grinding the precipitants into a dust, adding them to a clear paint base, and then painting our letters with our homemade paint. For the chemistry portion, we had to figure out and explain why these chemicals underwent a double replacement reaction and created a pigmented precipitant. There was a lot of trial and error with this project, but our product came out better than expected. |
Content
Element- A substance that cannot be broken down chemically into smaller substances.
Ex: Potassium (K) and Iodine (I) are elements used to create a substance in the making of yellow.
Compound Solution- A substance formed when two or more elements are chemically bonded together
Ex: In the yellow reaction, the compound Lead Iodide formed.
Precipitant- The solid or aqueous product resulting in a chemical reaction
Ex: The product of lead iodide resulted in a yellow precipitant that we used to color the paint.
Double replacement reaction- When two compounds react to form two new products by interchanging their ions.
Ex: For the precipitants to form, a double replacement reaction had to occur in our compounds.
Ionic solution- When the ions of a compound have disassociated in an aqueous solution
Ex: An ionic solution was formed in the double replacement reactions.
Product- A substance that is formed as the result of a chemical reaction.
Ex: In our solutions, the product was the colored precipitants.
Reactivity Series- An analytical progression of a series of metals. arranged by their reactivity from highest to lowest.
Ex: We used the reactivity series to predict what solutions would create precipitants.
Solubility Guidelines- A set of rules that determine which combinations will be soluble or insoluble
Ex: We used these guidelines to see which compound in our double replacement reaction created the precipitant.
Balanced equation- A chemical reaction where the coefficients result in equal numbers of atoms for each element in reactants and product.
Ex: We had to balance the equations at the end to show what reaction occurred.
Charges- A characteristic of atoms that expresses the loss or gain of electrons
Ex: We had to know the charges of elements in order to correctly balance the reaction.
Wavelengths- A distance between two successive peaks of the wave. Different wavelengths of light appear as different colors in our eyes.
Ex: These wavelengths explain how the different colors in our project are formed in our eyes. The yellow has a longer wavelength than the blue or green.
PVC- Polyvinyl chloride is a synthetic plastic polymer.
Ex: This appears in the clay and is the reason behind the flexible versus rigid forms before and after baking.
Element- A substance that cannot be broken down chemically into smaller substances.
Ex: Potassium (K) and Iodine (I) are elements used to create a substance in the making of yellow.
Compound Solution- A substance formed when two or more elements are chemically bonded together
Ex: In the yellow reaction, the compound Lead Iodide formed.
Precipitant- The solid or aqueous product resulting in a chemical reaction
Ex: The product of lead iodide resulted in a yellow precipitant that we used to color the paint.
Double replacement reaction- When two compounds react to form two new products by interchanging their ions.
Ex: For the precipitants to form, a double replacement reaction had to occur in our compounds.
Ionic solution- When the ions of a compound have disassociated in an aqueous solution
Ex: An ionic solution was formed in the double replacement reactions.
Product- A substance that is formed as the result of a chemical reaction.
Ex: In our solutions, the product was the colored precipitants.
Reactivity Series- An analytical progression of a series of metals. arranged by their reactivity from highest to lowest.
Ex: We used the reactivity series to predict what solutions would create precipitants.
Solubility Guidelines- A set of rules that determine which combinations will be soluble or insoluble
Ex: We used these guidelines to see which compound in our double replacement reaction created the precipitant.
Balanced equation- A chemical reaction where the coefficients result in equal numbers of atoms for each element in reactants and product.
Ex: We had to balance the equations at the end to show what reaction occurred.
Charges- A characteristic of atoms that expresses the loss or gain of electrons
Ex: We had to know the charges of elements in order to correctly balance the reaction.
Wavelengths- A distance between two successive peaks of the wave. Different wavelengths of light appear as different colors in our eyes.
Ex: These wavelengths explain how the different colors in our project are formed in our eyes. The yellow has a longer wavelength than the blue or green.
PVC- Polyvinyl chloride is a synthetic plastic polymer.
Ex: This appears in the clay and is the reason behind the flexible versus rigid forms before and after baking.
Reflection
So far, this project has been my favorite of the year because of the independence we were given along with such a hands on aspect. In the short timeline that we had, I am very proud of the work that was put in by myself and my group. One thing I believe that I did well was work ethic. This is because of the amount of work I completed in class along with time management and planning put in the utilize the time and materials given in class. I also believe I did a good job in leadership. While Emma Rice was the main leader behind the ideas and concepts, I took the lead in the actual chemistry; physically and mathematically. I made the yellow paint by myself, assisted in the multiple attempts of green and blue, and balanced all of the equations in our presentation and place cards. Even though I am proud of these two peaks, there are some pits that need some work. One of these is communication. As a leader, I need to work on communicating with all of my partners and making sure there are equal opportunities for everyone. Another aspect of improvement that intertwines with this is collaboration. This year in total, I need to focus on these two main C's in order to improve myself and my quality of work in the STEM program.
So far, this project has been my favorite of the year because of the independence we were given along with such a hands on aspect. In the short timeline that we had, I am very proud of the work that was put in by myself and my group. One thing I believe that I did well was work ethic. This is because of the amount of work I completed in class along with time management and planning put in the utilize the time and materials given in class. I also believe I did a good job in leadership. While Emma Rice was the main leader behind the ideas and concepts, I took the lead in the actual chemistry; physically and mathematically. I made the yellow paint by myself, assisted in the multiple attempts of green and blue, and balanced all of the equations in our presentation and place cards. Even though I am proud of these two peaks, there are some pits that need some work. One of these is communication. As a leader, I need to work on communicating with all of my partners and making sure there are equal opportunities for everyone. Another aspect of improvement that intertwines with this is collaboration. This year in total, I need to focus on these two main C's in order to improve myself and my quality of work in the STEM program.