Safety Note

As with any hands-on activity, we recommend that you perform the activities yourself before involving your students and provide proper supervision of students during the lesson.
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In cases where special safety instructions are not given, use common safety precautions, especially when working with hot, sharp, or breakable items. Be sure to read and follow warning labels on household chemicals.
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Terrific Science makes no claims of the originality of the lessons. Neither Terrific Science nor the authors assume any liability or responsibility for the use of information disseminated through the Web Lesson Exchange, nor can it be assumed that all necessary warnings and precautionary measures are contained in these publications.

Lesson List

Gravimetric Determination of the Nonvolatile Content of Paint
Historical Background of Paint and Coatings
Making a Surface Coating
Manufacturing Paint and Coatings

Lesson Descriptions
Gravimetric Determination of the Nonvolatile Content of Paint

This activity provides the student with an introduction to gravimetric procedures and at the same time introduces the basic components of paints. A small amount of paint is weighed into one of two aluminum foil weighing dishes. Nesting the second dish in the first covers the paint sample, making it possible to weigh the sample without weight loss due to evaporation of volatile components, which begins to occur as soon as the paint is exposed to the atmosphere. The paint sample is then spread into a film by pressing the nested (second) dish against the first. The two dishes are separated and the paint films on them are dried in a forced-air oven. After 30 minutes of drying, the dishes are reweighed. The mass data is used to calculate the percent nonvolatile matter in the paint sample.

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Historical Background of Paint and Coatings

Provides historical background information on this topic. No laboratory activity is included.

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Making a Surface Coating

In this activity students prepare a nonaqueous surface coating by first making a polymeric resin and then adding an organic solvent. The product is a basic varnish that hardens by loss of organic solvent to the air. A simple paint can be made by adding pigment to the varnish. An oleoresinous varnish can be made by adding an oil, such as linseed. Certain properties of the varnishes and paint film can be tested and compared: drying time, hardness, flexibility, and degradation of film or underlying substrate due to long-term exposure to ultraviolet radiation.

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Manufacturing Paint and Coatings

Provides background information on this topic. No laboratory activity is included.

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