The School of Engineering welcomed 600 local secondary school students to the Bute Hall on Friday 1 September for the Scottish Plastic and Rubber Association’s Fantastic Plastic lecture’s first visit to campus.

The Fantastic Plastic lectures, led by Professor Emeritus Averil Macdonald of the University of Reading, have been running for nine years and aim to encourage secondary pupils to develop their understanding of, and enthusiasm for, plastics and entrepreneurship .

After a brief overview of the great variety of physical properties of plastics that make them suitable for various intriguing and surprising applications, students were reminded of the basic concepts of solid, liquids and gases.

Lively demonstrations showed the effects of increasing the temperature, crosslinking the molecules, ‘tangling up’ the polymer chains, and dissolving them in liquids. The examples taken from everyday items showed what happens at a molecular level and how these characteristics determine the final material properties.

Nikolaj Gadegaard, professor of biomedical engineering, helped to bring the event to the University. He said: “Fantastic Plastic is a great way for school pupils to engage with some fundamental science and we were very pleased to host Professor Macdonald in the historic setting of Bute Hall.

“Events like these are also important for strengthening links between the University and the local community, and we’re keen to host the lecture again next year if we can.”

First published: 11 September 2017

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