Color Change
Subject Area: Science
Learning Objectives: Students will be able to measure temperature of running water and learn that temperature can cause chemical changes in certain kinds of plastic.
Materials Needed: A sink, one thermometer, one computer, one Micro or Micro+ 3D printer and one 250ft Chameleon 3D Ink filament spool per 2-5 students. If you print the models ahead of time, we recommend having one print per every two students.
Brief Description: Students will learn about how different temperatures can cause chameleon prints to change color. They will try to measure what temperature causes the filament to change color.
To Prepare: Students will need a computer that has the M3D software on it. We recommend one printer per every 2-5 students. The Micro or Micro+ 3D printer will need to be plugged into both the wall and the computer. Each printer will need to have a 250ft spool of Chameleon 3D Ink feeding into the external port. A spool holder is also recommended to hold the filament as it feeds into the printer.
If you need assistance with any of the above please see our guides at support.printm3d.com.
You will need to decide which Chameleon filament you would like to use for this lesson. Our Chameleon 3D Ink changes to a rich white color when exposed to a specific temperature. It is available in 4 temperature modes, Hot (60°C/140°F), Warm (45°C/113°F), Touch (30°C/86°F), and Ice (15°C/59°F). Please see more about our Chameleon 3D Ink here: https://store.printm3d.com/collections/3d-ink-chameleon
You can either print the models to use ahead of time, or have the students find & print a model following our find and print lesson plan here: https://support.printm3d.com/618643-Find--Print. For this lesson we recommend a simple model such as this one: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2507540.
Lesson Plan:
You can either give each pair or small group of students one Chameleon print or a few Chameleon prints in a variety of temperature modes.
Have the students take their prints over to a sink and run water over the print.
They should keep changing the temperature of the water until they see the color change reaction happening.
Once the color begins to change, ask students to measure the temperature of the water. See how closely their measurement lines up to the temperature at which the print is supposed to change color.
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