Ysgol Rhiwabon- Year 10 Chemistry students

1. Ysgol Rhiwabon- Year 10 Chemistry students “Smartrope”

2. History Who’s idea was it ? • - The original idea was from the Egyptians (4000-3500 BC) • They were originally made out of water reed and were used by thousands of slaves and used to transport rocks to create the pyramids. • They where then made out of camel hair, leather, date palms, flax, grass and papyrus.

3. Who was next? • By 2800 BC the Chinese then started to make rope out of hemp • Over the next few thousand years the craft of rope making became very popular and spread to Asia, India and Europe. • By the fourth century rope making had become so specialised and important in India that some people produced ropes intended only for the use with elephants.

4. Da Vinci and a rope? - As well as painting one of the worlds most famous and expensive painting he also drew sketches for a rope making machine. • By the late 1700’s many working machines had been built and patented. • Rope then continued to be made from natural fibres until the 1950s when synthetic material (in particular nylon) became popular. • Despite the changes in materials, the rope making process still remains the same from ancient times in Egypt.

5. Recent years It has only been in recent years, relatively speaking, that wire ropes were created. In 1834, the first wire ropes, then called Albert ropes, were made in Germany for use in mining .It is certain that prior to 1939 natural fibres, both vegetable and animal, were the only materials that were available to cordage manufacturers. It was then that the laboratories of E. I. Dupont de Nemours developed nylon, a discovery that revolutionized the cordage and textile industries. The discovery of polyester followed in the 1940s, and polypropylene in the 1950

6. Hemp plant This is the stem of a hemp plant. The fibres have been stripped from the stem and separated out. The fibres were separated from the plant. They had to be cleaned and straightened before spinning. They were pulled through boards covered in metal spikes called hatchels. Whale oil was added to lubricate the fibres so they were easier to comb. The hatchelling boards were later replaced by machines.

7. Spinning the Fibres into Yarn Click and Steph will tell you about a spinning wheel • The long straight fibres were spun together into yarn. • Traditionally this was done by hand-spinning. The spinner held the fibres around his waist. As the hooks on the spinning wheel rotated, he walked backwards pulling out the fibres so they spun together. From 1850, yarns were spun on machines in the spinning mill. The machines wound the spun yarns onto bobbins. It was the job of the • Machine operator to change the bobbins over when they became full. We know she got it a bit wrong.. But you get the idea

8. Early ropes Early ropes were made of materials including grass, leather, hair, and reeds. The Egyptians used rope in their early building enterprises, employing long strands of rope to move the enormous stones necessary to build the pyramids. The Chinese began using rope made from hemp sometime around 3000 B.C.

9. Common ropes The three most common rope materials are nylon, polyester, and polypropylene. Polyethylene is sometimes encountered. Some ropes are made of combinations of several of these materials. Nylon is generally the strongest of these common materials when dry. . Two forms of nylon are used in ropes; nylon 6 and nylon 6.6. The properties of these fibres, and the ropes made from them, are not significantly different, except nylon 6 has a lower melting point.

10. The poly’s • Polyester ropes are almost as strong as nylon when dry. Polyester retains its strength when wet, and thus polyester ropes are generally stronger than nylon ropes when wet. • Polypropylene is probably the most common material found in ropes used in the marine field. One reason is that it is less dense than water, and thus it floats. • Polyethylene is uncommon in large ropes. It is used for water-ski ropes and other small ropes used for utilitarian purposes. It is used extensively in the fishing industry.

11. Modern ropes- Dynamic ropes Dynamic rope is a stretchable rope that has been specially constructed. This is very different to the old static ropes which don’t give and break under a heavy load. When stretched, the dynamic rope will soften when under stress, so absorbs the stress and energy on the climber. The most common type of dynamic rope is Kernmantle ropes (with a jacketed core) Dynamic ropes used for rock climbing come in a variety of lengths and diameters, with the most common lengths being 50, 55, and 60 meters and diameters between 8.3mm and 11.5mm. Different diameters and lengths are used for different purposes.

12. Dynamic ropes- safety • If dynamic ropes are overused, they can be stretched too much. This makes them weaker and unsafe. • If they are cut or damaged by rock or grit, they will also become unsafe. • It can be difficult to tell if a rope is damaged, just by looking at it. We need an easy, reliable test method.

13. ‘Smartrope’ – the idea* If we can include fibres which will conduct electricity into our rope, these will stretch with the rope. If the fibre becomes thinner/ longer, then properties such as resistance will change. If we can measure this, we should be able to test the rope’s safety

14. Polymersconsist of many small bits (monomers) joined together Pros Cons

15. Conductive Polymers: what are they? Conductive polymers are organic polymers that conduct electricity. Such compounds may have metallic conductivity or can be semiconductors.

16. Advantages… • The biggest advantage of conductive polymers is their processability • Conductive polymers are generally not plastics. • But, like insulating polymers, they are organic materials. • They can offer high electrical conductivity but do not show the same mechanical properties that other commercially used polymers do. The electrical properties can be fine-tuned using the methods of organic synthesis and in the manufacturing process.

17. Disadvantages • This means that we cannot (sadly) make a rope entirely out of conducting polymers- they would have to be included with nylon fibres within a dynamic rope.

18. ‘Smartrope’ – the design* The smart conducting fibres can be seen with the nylon fibres

19. ‘Smartrope’ – the design* The ends of the conducting fibres can be seen. Clipping a meter to bothends of the rope enables rope safety to be tested The smart conducting fibres can be seen with the nylon fibres

20. Early Mountaineering- rope problems Edward Whymper, and six others, climbed the Matterhorn using a rope made of hemp. Their attempt by what is now the normal route, the Hörnli ridge, met with success on 14 July 1865, On the descent, four members of the party (Croz, Douglas, Hadow and Hudson) slipped and were killed, the rope between them and the three surviving members of the party snapping as they slid. "Every night, do you understand, I see my comrades of the Matterhorn slipping on their backs, their arms outstretched, one after the other, in perfect order at equal distances—Croz the guide, first, then Hadow, then Hudson, and lastly Douglas. Yes, I shall always see them…"

21. It could have been different… …..If only they had used a Smart rope Click to see Corin testing a SMARTROPE ‘for real’

22. We recommend that you view our latest advert for ‘SMARTROPE’(the testable rope) This is compelling watching , but is in a different file

23. The following year 10 Chemistry students contributed to this project:Conrad Billington Megan DaviesCameron DoolanCorin DoolanHannah HendersonTaylor JamesStephen JonesNathan KearsleyKia NewellSian PrestonShannon RobertsStephanie SurreyJoanna TaylorAyesha Thomas