[sinth]

Hi Guys,

Appreciate any tips on this one. It's difficult to find material on this.

Q1) What would be the result if you used trimethylchlorosilane to attempt to make silly putty? Explain your answer with equations.

I don't think it will work but I cannot explain with equations.
My reasons are as follows:

Dichlorodimethylsilane is a useful starting material for bouncing putter for two reasons:
(1) The Si-Cl bonds are easily hydrolyzed, making the compound very reactive.

Trimethylchlorosilane has only one Si-Cl bond so it does not hydrolyze so easily???

(2) The compound is bifunctional, since there are two chlorines. The chain can therefore
propagate in two directions, resulting in high molecular weight polymers.

Trimethylchlorosilane has only one chlorine so it propagates in only one direction???

Q2 Would it be possible to use dichlorodimethylgermanium as a starting material to make:
A. Silly Putty
B. Sodium Silicate w/ Ethanol (Superball)

Please give me some tips on this one.

Cheers!

James

[Mesogen]

Hi Sinth,

A good question, it sounds like you're already most of the way there with the ideas you suggest...

Firstly, silly putty is essentially a non-newtonian fluid, i.e. it's viscosity does not vary linearly with applied strain rate or stress rate. These properties stem largely from the chemical nature of the material - it's a polysiloxane, in the example that you're dealing with (using dichlorodimethylsilane as the monomer) the polymer is polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS).

(...) Part of the answer removed. It explained what are products of the trimethylchlorosilane reaction.

Hope that helps a bit.
  

[Mitch]

@Mesogen

Please don't give away the answers, instead please help the student come to the answer with gentle prodding and nudging. This is against the Forum Rules ( http://www.chemicalforums.com/index.php?topic=33740.0 ) and will result in a temporary ban if it continues. However, I do want to personally thank you for sharing your expertise thanklessly around the forum, but please make the student work towards the answer.

Best,
Mitch

[syunchow]

Q2 Would it be possible to use dichlorodimethylgermanium as a starting material to make:

Look germanium up at the periodic table - compare it to silicon - are they in the same group? What does that tell you?