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The Polymer Crystallization experiment involves heating a polymer, the Polyethylene Oxide (a.k.a. PEO), above its melting point and then let it cool down to several controlled temperatures (where it crystallizes), in order to draw conclusions about the characteristics of the PEO crystal formation. The crystals are observed using a very expensive polarized light microscope. The polymer Crystallization experiment is memoryless, in the sense that it can be repeated over and over using the same polymer sample, without affecting future experiment runs.
The laboratory uses 3 hardware devices to allow students execute the experiment. The use of these devices follows naturally from the purpose of the experiment. First, the Zeiss Axioplan2 polarized light microscope is used to observe the polymer sample at all stages of the experiment. Second, the Linkam LTS heating stage heats the sample up to the desired temperature. Finally, the Zeiss Axiocam camera (fixed on top of the microscope) captures the images observed from the sample.
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