Chemistry Investigatory
Project
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Making plastic using potato
starch
Name: Vedant Virani
Roll No.: 30
Class: 12-D
Index
Seri Sub Topic Pag
al e
No. No.
1. Acknowledgment 3
2. Aim of the 4
Experiment
3. Requirements 5
4. Procedure 1 – Using 6
Homemade Potato
Starch
5. Procedure 2 – Using 8
Readymade Starch
6. Theory 9
7. Precautions 11
8. Bibliography
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to express my sincere gratitude
to my school, our own Sardar Patel
Vidyalaya and my chemistry teacher,
Parminder ma’am, for encouraging me to do
this project of Preparing potato using potato
starch, and moreover for giving us guidance
and moral support, all throughout this
academic year. This project has given me a
deeper understanding of modern chemistry.
Secondly, I would also like to thank my
parents for providing me with the required
resources and encouragement for the
completion of this project.
Furthermore, I would like to thank Tripti
ma’am, for providing me with the necessary
chemicals and helping me in carrying out
the experiment.
Thank You,
Vedant Virani
XII – D (2024-2025)
AIM OF THE EXPERIMENT
To
prepare plastic from potato starch.
REQUIREMENTS
2 Potatoes
Knife
Peeler
Pestle and Mortar/Blender
Glycerin
Vinegar
Mould
Distilled Water
Potato Starch
Food Colouring (Optional)
Using Homemade Potato
Starch
Steps:
Making Potato Starch
1. Take the potatoes and thoroughly clean
them with water.
2. Peel the potatoes and cut them into
small pieces.
3. Take a pestle and mortar and mash the
raw potatoes in them. Add a small amount
of distilled water.
4. If you have a blender use the blender.
5. Use a coffee filter to strain off the cloudy
water.
6. If you plan on making the plastic right
away, drying the mixture is not necessary,
but if you plan on storing it for a while,
spread it out on wax paper in a sunny area
for it to dry (it could get mouldy otherwise).
Making Plastic
7. Measure out 60 ml (4 tablespoons) of cold
water and pour it into the beaker or container
your heating the mixture in.
8. Measure out 10 grams (or about 1
tablespoon) of starch (the potato starch you
made) and add that to the water.
9. Add 5 ml or about 1 teaspoon of acid
(vinegar) to the mixture.
10. Add 5 ml or about 1 teaspoon of glycerine
to the mixture, more glycerine will make it
softer and more flexible, less will make it
harder and stiffer but more brittle.
11. If a coloured plastic is desired, add in the
food colouring now. About 5 drops is good
enough.
12. Turn the burner on low and constantly stir
the mixture. When it starts to thicken up turn
the heat up to medium and stir even more.
When it starts to boil, keep boiling it for 5
minutes. You want it to be very clear and
sticky.
13. You should now have a "gooey" substance
that you can pour into a mould, or you can
pour it onto a sheet of aluminium foil/silicone
mould to dry.
Using Readymade Starch
Steps:
1. Measure out 60 ml (4 tablespoons) of cold
water and pour it into the beaker or container
your heating the mixture in.
2. Measure out 10 grams (or about 1
tablespoon) of starch (the potato starch you
or bought) and add that to the water.
3. Add 5 ml or about 1 teaspoon of acid
(vinegar) to the mixture.
4. Add 5 ml or about 1 teaspoon of glycerine
to the mixture, more glycerine will make it
softer and more flexible, less will make it
harder and stiffer but more brittle.
5. If a coloured plastic is desired, add in the
food colouring now. About 5 drops is good
enough.
6. Turn the burner on low and constantly stir
the mixture. When it starts to thicken up turn
the heat up to medium and stir even more.
When it starts to boil, keep boiling it for 5
minutes. You want it to be very clear and
sticky.
7. You should now have a "gooey" substance
that you can pour into a mould, or you can
pour it onto a sheet of aluminium foil/silicone
mould to dry.
Theory
Plastics are polymers that is long chains of atoms bonded
to one another. Common thermoplastics range from 20,000
to 500,000 in molecular weight, while thermosets are
assumed to have infinite molecular weight. These chains
are made up of many repeating molecular units, known as
"repeat units", derived from "monomers"; each polymer
chain will have several 1000's of repeat units. The vast
majority of plastics are composed of polymers of carbon
and hydrogen alone or with oxygen, nitrogen, chlorine or
sulphur in the backbone. The backbone is that part of the
chain on the main "path" linking a large number of repeat
units together.
Plastic is usually made from fossil fuel based chemicals like
natural gas or petroleum but the plastic made from these
takes thousands of years to decompose and since the
quantity of fossil fuels left is very less it led to us getting
innovative and now we have found methods to make bio
plastic that is biodegradable and not made from fossil
fuels. Here I tried one of the methods of making plastic
from material one can easily find at their homes.
Starch is mixture of two polymers called Amylose and
Amylopectin, in a ratio of about 1:4 (4 being the
Amylopectin). Amylose is a linear polymer of glucose. It can
be made of several thousands of glucose units, whereas
Amylopectin is a highly branched polymer of glucose.
To resemble plastic we need something which has long
chains and since starch contains both long chains and
highly branched chains in the form of Amylose and
Amylopectin respectively we need to remove the highly
branched Amylopectin. For this we use Vinegar (Acetic
Acid) which breaks down the Amylopectin into small and
straight molecules of Dextrin.
Now we are left with Amylose and Dextrin to which we
added glycerine. Glycerine was added to give it flexibility.
The lesser the glycerine the harder and brittle the plastic
is.
Precautions
1. All apparatuses used for the experiment
should be properly cleaned before use so as
to prevent any unnecessary addition of
impurities.
2. All chemicals used should be accurately
measured. If more or less than the required
amount is used, then the plastic may not be
formed efficiently.
3. Make sure the right chemicals are used
else an unwanted reaction may take place,
which may thus lead to incorrect results.
4. Distilled water should be used during the
experiment to avoid unnecessary addition of
impurities.
5. Knife, peeler, blender should be used
carefully so as to not cause any accidents.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. [Link]
2. [Link]
3. [Link]
Potato-Plastic!/
4. [Link]