Gel Marie Lobaton STEM2-A

As what I saw in the video, a bead of water was formed when placed in a piece of wax paper.
What I observed was that the water rolls around on the wax paper when it was moved around. When it
was dragged by a popsicle stick, still the bead of water was intact and it followed the movement
wherever the stick is going. Even if the person was trying to divide it, it was difficult to do so because
they are still intact with each other. Lastly, it was successfully divide by moving the popsicle stick from
opposite directions faster.

Water molecules are attracted in every direction by other water molecules and are more
attracted to each other than they are to the wax paper. Also, the water molecules at the surface of a
drop have no water molecules attracting them from above. These surface molecules can only be
attracted down and in. Since they are attracted in a more uniform or consistent direction, they form a
more stable arrangement at the surface called surface tension. It is because water has a very high
surface tension due to the cohesive forces (hydrogen bonding between water molecules). The wax
paper has a very low surface tension. The cohesive forces between these high molecular weight
hydrocarbons is much less than that of water. This results in a more stable and stronger arrangement at
the surface, accounting for water’s strong surface tension.

Wax paper has a coating of wax which made of paraffin molecules. These molecules are made of
carbon-hydrogen bonds which are not polar. Water molecules are more attracted to each other than to
the wax so they tend to stay together and bead up rather than spread out and absorb into the wax
paper.

References:

http://www.appstate.edu/~goodmanjm/rcoe/asuscienceed/background/waterdrops/waterdrops.html

http://www.middleschoolchemistry.com/lessonplans/chapter5/lesson2

https://www.acs.org/ - American Chemical Society