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  Home > JCE Print > Journal of Chemical Education > Issues > 1998  > November  >
In the Laboratory
Use of a Reliable Homemade Dilatometer To Study the Kinetics of the Radical Chain Polymerization of PMMA: An Undergraduate Polymer Chemistry Laboratory Kinetics Experiment
Olga Martín, Francisco Mendicuti, and Maria Pilar Tarazona
Departamento de Química Física, Universidad de Alcalá, 28871 Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain
Cover
November 1998
Vol. 75 No. 11
p. 1479
Abstract
In this laboratory experiment, a simple, reliable homemade dilatometer was used to study the kinetics of the radical chain polymerization of PMMA. The reaction was carried out in toluene with benzoyl peroxide as the initiator at a temperature of 80 °C. Each student studied the kinetics at a different initiator concentration constant. Pseudo-first-order plots permit students to obtain kapp and to demonstrate order 1 with respect to the monomer concentration. Finally, a log-log plot of kapp versus the initiator concentration from the data collected by each student demonstrates order 0.5 with respect to the initiator concentration. Results also agree with the rate constants of the process implicated in this type of polymerization.
More Information
*  Citation
 Mendicuti, Francisco; Martin, Olga; Tarazona, Maria Pilar. J. Chem. Educ. 1998 75 1479.
*  Keywords
 polymer chem, laboratory instruction, kinetics, laboratory equipment, apparatus
*  History
 Created:
Last Updated:		 June 18, 1999
June 24, 2005
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