Testing Organic Plastic Water Bottle

Purpose:​ To determine the feasibility of an organic plastic to be used as a water bottle by

performing two of tests: solubility in water and durability.

Materials:

● Subject water bottle

● Open space
● Reliable water source

​ rocedure:
P
Solubility Test:
1. Fill cup with water.
2. Place a sample of subject plastic in water.
3. Observe plastic in water for at least 5 days. If plastic shows signs of solubility, plastic
fails.
Durability Test:
1. Elevate plastic 6’ above safe, but solid area for impact.
2. Release plastic over target area.
3. Observe effects of impact on plastic, if plastic breaks, it fails.
4. Repeat steps 1 through 5 until bottle fails or it has been dropped 6 times.

Observations:
Solubility Test:
Potato Starch + Vinegar + Glycerin + Water:

Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5

Tapioca Starch + Vinegar + Glycerin + Water:
Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5

Milk + Vinegar:

Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5

Tests Melting Point

Plastic
Solubility Durability (Degrees Celsius)
Potato Starch Pass Pass 78.3
Tapioca Starch Fail Pass 68.9
Milk and Vinegar Fail Fail 43.8

Analysis:
From the observations, it is clear that the organic polymer containing potato starch is best fit for
use as a plastic water bottle. The polymer containing the tapioca starch failed the durability drop
test, and the vinegar-milk polymer failed both tests. Through examining melting points, we can
begin to discern why this is the case. Potato starch was the most successful and also had the
highest melting point. Its high melting point tells us that the polymer has stronger molecular and
intermolecular bonds compared to its competitors. It is more difficult for energy to break its
bonds, whether its chemical energy in water or kinetic energy from the durability drop test.

Conclusion:
In order to determine which of 3 organic polymers would be best suited for being utilized as a
plastic water bottle, we tested their solubility in water and durability. The polymer made with
potato starch performed the best outperforming polymers made with tapioca starch and with
milk. This is because the polymer made with potato starch had stronger molecular and
intermolecular bonds than those it was competing with. To improve the experiment polymer
solubility could have been tested over a longer duration. The polymers could also have been
formed into bottles before being tested so that more specific tests could have been performed.
This would have yielded more definitive results.