The Chemistry of a Basketball

Main Chemicals, Compounds, Components

Nylon: COOH-CH2-CH2-CH2-CH2-COOH

Nylon is made from from carbon, nitrogen, and hydrogen. they heat up nylon salt, which is 6 carbon atoms, and they heat this up so the small nylon salts combined together to create larger molecules. This is called polymerisation. nylon is used on the outside of the basketball to make the imprint on the ball.

polyester: Ethylene Glycol + Adipic Acid ---------> Polyester

Polyester is a polymer that has ester functional group in its main chain. It is made from coal, water, air and petroleum.polyester fibers are made from an acid and an alcohol.

Rubber: BIIR - bromobutyl rubber

rubber is an elastomer, which means it can undergo deformation under great stress. Most rubbers are petroleum based. mostly rubber is made of the two gases butadiene and styrene. They are both bi products of refining petroleum. Then they put both in a reactor with soap suds making latex, which in turn, makes rubber. Natural rubber is made of isoprene which is

Background Research

Basketball was invented in 1891 by James Naismith.The original ball was brown leather until the 1950’s when they introduced the orange ball. The usual basketball is 30 to 31 inches in circumference. Basketball was made in the United States. A basketball bounces when their is air inside of the basketball. American basketballs are usually are made by Mikasa. Basketball is a game where their is two teams with five players on the floor. Both teams try to put the ball into baskets on both sides of the floor as the opposing team tries to stop them.

Resources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butyl_rubber

- where to find what butyl rubber is made of

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synthetic_rubber

- where to find the contents in synthetic rubber

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nylon

- where to find the contents of nylon

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyester

where to find the contents of polyester

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