The lab introduces hydrogels to a high school classroom
- Adam talks about polymers
- Claire and Adam help students understand why covalently crosslinked hydrogels remain intact
- Adam describes crosslinking with a visual aid
- Ramya inspects the remains of alginate gels
The lab taught students at Arvada West all about covalent and non-covalent interactions responsible for hydrogel formation. We had a lot of fun forming, dissolving, and reforming hydrogels. Alginate, agarose, and HEMA behaved very differently under heating and EDTA addition. Click through the gallery above to watch the lab in action. Thanks to HS teachers, Matthew Studenny and Deb Thompson for inviting us to their Honors chemistry class!