Paper Chemistry: Past to Present – Process Engineering for Advanced Chemistry Lessons

Laura Bögge¹, Marco Reinmold¹ and Arnim Lühken^1,

¹Department of Chemistry Education, Goethe-University, Frankfurt/ Main, Germany

Cite this paper

Laura Bögge, Marco Reinmold and Arnim Lühken. Paper Chemistry: Past to Present – Process Engineering for Advanced Chemistry Lessons. World Journal of Chemical Education. 2019; 7(2):84-89. doi: 10.12691/WJCE-7-2-7

Abstract

Paper is an omnipresent and everyday composite material. However, not all papers are alike. Different kinds of paper have characteristics specific to the respective application area which are modified by the use of different paper additives in paper production. Because those paper products are an integral part of the students' everyday lives, adequate model experiments have been developed that enable the students to reproduce complex paper production processes in chemistry class. This article therefore presents two reliable hands-on experiments that show the history of paper gluing (experiment I) as well as the use and detection of polyvinyl alcohols as typical sizing agent of different kinds of paper (experiment II). Both experiments primarily use easily accessible everyday materials, which from a didactic perspective again create an everyday reference for the students. From an organizational and experimental perspective the use of everyday materials results in an inexpensive and environmentally friendly lab work with low safety-risks, so that the experiments make a valuable contribution to the introduction of paper chemistry for advanced chemistry teaching in secondary schools.

Keywords

paper chemistry, paper gluing, paper additives, model experiments, hands-on experiments

Copyright

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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