The Feasibility of Styrofoam as a Sealant

CHARTER ONE

Introduction

Background of the study:

Today, rain is a big deal in our lives. If we can hear a news that there is rain coming soon,we often think that it is a new problem. It maybe can cause landslide, it can cause flood or we are worried because we have hole in our roof.

In order to solve this problem, I investigate about the styrofoam as a substitute for commercial sealant. I came upwith this problem, because as I observe in our houses now, many have holes in the roof. So, I want to investigate with this problem because it is very important. I'm sure that many people will benefit this study. One of the reason why I choose this study because it is cheap. Instead of buying commercial sea lant, you can just recycle your styrofoam and make it a sealant.

Statement of the problem:

Can styrofoam be a sealant?

Statement of the Hypothesis:

Ho:Styrofoam cannot be a sealant.

Ha:Styrofoam can be a sealant.

Significance of the study:

The significance of this study is that, this study can help our community in pollution. Instead of throwing anywhere the styrofoam, they just recycle it and make it a sealant. This study can also help us in financial problem because, instead of buying expensive commercial sealant, you can just make this study and your problem is solved.

Scope and Limitation:

This study is only limited in the styrofoam because, styrofoam can be melted by the gasoline. You cannot just use any plastic material instead of styrofoam because they connot be melted by the gasoline so you just use styrofoam.

Definition of terms:

Sealant- one that can be bullet in hole of your roof so that the water will resist.

Styrofoam- it is a white and soft thing that can be use as decoration and can be melted.

CHAPTER TWO:REVIEW AND RELATED LITERATURE

There are some related literature in my study,they are styrofoam,gasoline and sealant.Styrofoam is a trademark name for polystyrene thermal insulation material, manufactured by Dow Chemical Company.
In the early 1940s, Dow invented a process for extruding polystyrene to achieve a closed cell foam that resists moisture. In recognition of its insulating properties, buoyancy and "unsinkability," it was originally adopted in 1942 by the Coast Guard for use in a six-man life raft. Styrofoam can be used for building materials including insulated sheathing, pipe insulation and floral and craft products. Styrofoam insulation has been used in many notable buildings and facilities in North America. The Dow product can be identified by its distinctive blue color.
Styrofoam can be used underneath roads and other structures to prevent soil disturbances due to seasonal freeze-thaw cycles. The word styrofoam is sometimes misused by the general public in the United States as a generic term to indicate polystyrene foam, such as coffee cups, cooler or packaging material are typically white in color and are made of expanded polystyrene beads. The Dow Chemical Company works to educate the public that styrofoam is a registered trademark rather than a generic term for polystyrene foam.The second is the Gasoline or petrol is a petroleum-derived liquid mixture consisting mostly of aliphatic hydrocarbons and enhanced with aromatic hydrocarbons toluene, benzene or iso_octane to increase octane ratings, primarily used as fuel in internal combustion engines. Most Commonwealth countries or former Commonwealth countries, with the exception of Canada, use the term "petrol" (abbreviated from petroleum spirit). The term "gasoline" is commonly used in North America where it is often shortened in colloquial usage to "gas".And the third is the sealant, is a viscous material that changes state to become solid, once applied, and is used to prevent the penetration of air, gas, dust, fire, smoke or liquid from one location through a barrier into another. Typically, sealants are used to close small openings that are difficult to shut with other materials, such as concrete, dry wall, etc. Desirable properties of sealants include insolubility, corrosion resistance, and adhesion. Uses of sealants vary widely and sealants are used in many industries, for example, construction automotive and aerospace industries.
An example of a sealant is silicone. (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia,2005)

CHAPTER THREE:METHODOLOGY

PROCEDURE:

A.

• 
  
  Materials were gathered


• 
  
  The gasoline were put in the can


• 
  
  The styrofoam was mixed in the gasoline


• 
  
  The mixture were stirred in 3 minutes

B.

• a piece of roof was drilled up to 0.5 cm in diameter


• The hole was covered by the created sealant


• The roof was heated under the sun in 1 hour to make it dry


• It was poured by water


• It was observed

CHAPTER FOUR

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Date of experiment: Jan. 27-30, 2008

time: 10 am-2pm

Time span: 3hours

After one hour:

durability

REPLICATES

diameter	1	2	3
0.25 cm	Less durable	Less durable	Less durable
0.5 cm	Less durable	Less durable	Less durable
1 cm	Less durable	Less durable	Less durable

After three hours:

Durability

REPLICATES

diameter	1	2	3
0.25 cm	durable	durable	durable
0.5 cm	durable	durable	durable
1 cm	Less durable	Less durable	Less durable

AFTER THREE DAYS:

Durability

REPLICATES

diameter	1	2	3
0.25 cm	durable	durable	durable
0.5 cm	durable	durable	durable
1 cm	durable	durable	durable

Durind the experiment, I put the styrofoam on the gasoline. And then I stir it and after a few minutes it melted. I apply the melted styrofoam on the hole with different diameters and then I observe its durability after one hour, three hours and then three days. After one hour, the sealant is not durable , it is still sticky.After three hours, only the hole that have size 0.25 cm and 0.5cm are durable but the one cm size is not. After three days, all the holes are durable and I found out that smaller holes take short time to make its sealant durable.

CHAPTER FIVE

summary

I thought of using Styrofoam as a sealant. To make the Styrofoam a sealant, I put the Styrofoam in the gasoline and melt it by steering the gasoline. I conduct an experiment to make the Styrofoam a sealant.I made three replicates and each replicate has one hole on it. I put the melted Styrofoam to each hole and then I dry it under the heat of the sun and I observe it for 3 days. After I observe, I discovered that if the hole of the roof is lesser in diameter, it is durable and if the diameter is greater the sealant is less durable. And I also considered the time it is dried.

CONCLUSION

I therefore conclude that the Styrofoam can be made into a sealant by using gasoline.

RECOMMENDATION

The researcher recommends to conduct further experiment to improve the product because the time to made it is limited.

Bibliography:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Styrofoam

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gasoline

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sealant

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