Is High-Density Polethene Stronger Then Low-Densit

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Aim: My aim in this experiment was to find the difference between high-density and low-density Polethene by looking at how much weight/force the different types of Polythene could hold. I was able to test this by attaching a weight to the bottom of strips of plastic cut from two different densities of plastic bag. Each time I increased the weight by 1 Newton I collected data showing the elongation. I kept on adding weight until the plastic finally broke. Hypothesis: I expected that the high-density Polethene would sustain more weight than the low density Polethene before braking for many reasons. Firstly, the high-density Polythene has many more monomers in the same area of plastic surface. The denser plastic the longer it will stretch before breaking. The Low-density Polethene has fewer monomers than the high density plastic and therefore has fewer bonds that can move more easily and can be stretched more freely. Another reason I believe that the low-density Polythene will break first is because the monomers are in straight lines and the high-density polymers overlap giving the material more strength. Conclusion: My graphs show the best estimates for all of the measurements taken disregarding anomalous results. The overall trend is that when more weight is added, the plastics stretch more (which follows Hookes Law; extension is proportional to force applied). Therefore, we can see a positive correlation. When comparing the two different materials on a graph the slope of the line gives an indication of the average (mean) extension at a given force for both the low-density Polythene and the high density Polythene. The low-density polythene stretched and broke faster due to the fact that it had less monomers and bonds compared with the high-density Polythene confirming my hypothesis. Both the low-density Polythene and the high-density

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