making rayon thread

[pkij]

We are doing the making rayon prac, dissolving tissue in 50% ammonia and then squirting the solution into 2M sulfuric acid. The text says to use tissue paper, I tried it with that and then with paper towel. The paper towel worked better but was a bit harder to dissolve. Has anyone had success with other paper, and does anyone have any hints to make this prac more successful?

[kazza]

hi when we do this prac we use filter paper. Always gives a good result.

Love this site

[smiley]

I've used home brand facial tissues, and then we varied the experiment using leaves from weed grasses, sugar cane etc. The tissues were excellent, and weeds gave a reasonable result too.

Cheers, K

[Ocean Breeze]

we use facial tissues and/or filter paper. We also discovered that its great to pop some of the fibre under a stereo microscope too!