Summer SAVY Session 6, Day 1, Harry Potter (Owens)
Upon arrival to wizardry school, in true magical fashion our young witches and wizards were sorted into their houses which they will represent for the rest of the week. For our first potions class, we discussed many aspects of polymers: how they’re made, where they’re encountered, and how they relate to Troll Bogies found in the Philosophers Stone. Building upon that, we crosslinked a commonly encountered polymer (school glue) with laundry detergent. This Troll Bogie synthesis helped to reinforce how polymer properties can change through polymerization synthesis. In short, more and more mixing led to stickier polymers. For our second potion lesson, we learned about a few of the iconic brews in the wizarding world and which potions have feasible equivalents in our world. To round out our trip to potions class, students paired up to design their own potion. Following lunch, everyone got to visit Ollivander’s Wand Shop and design their own wand to end a truly magical first day.
Exciting topics that have further opportunity for expansion include:
- Your favorite potion recipe that got shared with the class
- Where can polymers be found throughout your home