Observing Native wildlife in High & Low traffic areas of Westfield & Barre MA
A majority of the chemical industry's output is polymer and plastics. The polymerization process, turning small molecules (monomers) into large ones (polymers), has four stages: initiThe goal of this project is to determine and identify which Massachusetts wildlife species prefer high or low trafficked areas. We used game cameras in three different locations around Barre and Westfield MA, as well as recorded animal tracks in order to survey which wildlife walked through each area. This data will identify which areas receive a high or medium amount of animal traffic and could be used for future wildlife management and protection projects. We accomplished this by setting up two cameras at three different locations throughout Westfield and Barre, with each location having a high traffic area and a low traffic area. We hypothesize that we will find less animal activity in the high traffic areas and more animal activity in the low human trafficked areas. We also hypothesize that predators and prey will prefer opposing trafficked areas based on hunting and shelter preferences respectively.ation, propagation, chain-transfer, and termination. In my project, I am using UV light in combination with a photoinitiator to initiate the reaction. The propagation process includes the chain reaction with different monomers and oligomers in the formulation, with cross-linking occurring in the presences of multifunctional monomers. The purpose of this research is to demonstrate how physical properties of a polymer are affected by choice of monomers and oligomers in the formulation. Different monomer with varying number of functional groups or the molecular weight of different oligomers will change the final product of polymerization. To compare the different polymers, I will measure tensile strength, hardness, water absorption, depth of cure, and adhesion to different substrates. Using the same fundamental radical reaction, the choice of monomer and its functionalization leads to a variety of polymers with unique properties matching the requirements of the potential customer.