Sophia Chlosta

Luke Garbin
Will Rath
Dan Roethlein
Lab Research Project
Research: Sodium Polyacrylate is a super absorbent polymer commonly found in diapers. It is a
fine white pounder that, when exposed to water, turns into a slush- like solid. Sodium
Polyacrylate can absorb 200 to 300 times its own mass in water. It is also commonly infused in
the soil of potted plants to help the soil retain moisture. If you add table salt to the mixture, it will
reverse the reaction.
Question: Will adding salt to the water effect how much water Sodium Polyacrylate can absorb?
Hypothesis: We believe that the sodium polyacrylate will absorb the water with no salt better
than the salt with water.
Material List:
1. Water
2. Salt
3. Sodium Polyacrylate
4. Funnel
5. Filters
6. Ring Stand
7. Graduated Cylinders
8. Electronic Balance
9. Beaker
10. Scupula
11. Stirr Rod
Procedure:
1. Measure three graduated cylinders with 50 millimeters of water
2. In one graduated cylinder, pour 2.5 grams of salt and 5 grams into another one, and leave
the third cylinder without salt
3. Stir the solutions until the salt has dissolved
4. Place a filer into a funnel
5. Place this funnel onto a ring stand
6. Pour 2.5 grams of Sodium Polyacrylate inside the funnel
7. Place a beaker underneath the funnel
8. Pour the graduated cylinder with no salt into the funnel until it is leaking from the water
9. Record how much water was used
10. Clean out the funnel and beaker that were used
 11. Repeat steps 4-9 with the other two solutions

Analysis:
Trends in our data was that the more salt that we added, the more water the Sodium Polyacrylate
absorbed. The hypothesis that we made did not follow up with our data because it was the exact
opposite. The saltwater with 5 grams of salt was absorbent the most in the Sodium Polyacrylate,
then the normal water. We only did one trial with the data set that we collected. One outlier we
did have in our data set though was we had to switch the amount of salt we put in the water
because it was overflowing the funnel. We had 10 grams and 5 grams of salt before, but then
switched it too 5 grams and 2.5 grams of salt in each graduated cylinder, along with the one with
normal water. One error we could of made with our experiment was that we could of messed up
the amount of salt we put in. Another possible way we could of messed up was we could of
dumped the water in fast, and by doing that we would not know the exact amount of water left in
the graduated cylinder. To correct these two errors in the future would be to measure right and
pour the water slowly.

Works Cited
King, M.S. Joe. “What Is Sodium Polyacrylate & How Is It Used?” LIVESTRONG.COM, Leaf
Group, 3 Oct. 2017, www.livestrong.com/article/458401-what-is-sodium-polyacrylate-
how-is-it-used/.
“Sodium Acrylate.” National Center for Biotechnology Information. PubChem Compound
Database, U.S. National Library of Medicine,
pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/sodium_acrylate#section=Top.
“Sodium Polyacrylate (Diaper Polymer).” Educational Innovations - TeacherSource.com,
www.teachersource.com/product/sodium-polyacrylate-diaper-polymer/chemistry.