Chemistry of Single Use Exhibition
by Kian Edmondson, AHS class of 2021
Eleventh grade chemistry students will exhibit their “Chemistry of Single Use Materials” Project on Thursday, January 23 in the Animas High School Commons. They have dug into the life cycle of single use materials in the U.S., following them through their entire lifecycle.
The juniors have studied how four materials--plastic, paper, aluminum and glass--are produced, used and disposed of in our local community. The exhibition will be formatted in a grid with life stages on one axis and materials on another axis, thereby making in depth exploration of the life cycle of single use materials easy to access.
Students studied how chemical bonding results in the properties of materials. They are collaborating with their peers to create original projects that explore the life cycle of these materials. Some students have chosen to use the project to address a problem or a need and come up with possible solutions.
Junior Mason Zufelt expressed his interest in the potential for his project. His goal is to create custom reusable water bottles with plastic that would otherwise end up in a landfill. He is optimistic about the possibilities, stating, “I think that the business opportunities in this field are huge.” He plans to work with project partner Anthony Ensor to turn their work into a business later, collecting plastic and selling created water bottles.
Chemistry teacher Steve Smith shared, “The goal of this project is to have students apply principles of chemistry and recognize how it is relevant to their own lives in an area where they can actually make changes. I want students to examine their use of single-use materials and the impact of their decisions to re-use them, recycle them, or throw them away.”
