Ambrose likes the challenge of learning difficult pieces of music on the piano. He also finds time for downhill skiing, basketball, and movies. His career goals include becoming a concert pianist and scientist because, he says, "I would love to experiment and invent new substances and materials."
Polymers such as plastics are valuable products, but synthetic polymers are very slow to biodegrade. Ambrose wondered whether a natural polymer or a hybrid of natural and synthetic polymers could be made durable yet biodegradable. He hypothesized that a synthetic polymer would be strong in a series of tests, a natural polymer would prove biodegradable, and a hybrid would have both properties.
Ambrose created a synthetic polymer from polyester, a natural polymer from corn, and a 50-50 hybrid from both. He heated each to a liquid state and allowed them to solidify. Using long, flat, equal-sized pieces of each, Ambrose tested their tensile strength, elongation, and elasticity by placing ever-larger weights on them. He tested their capacity to bend without breaking, measured scratch resistance, and gauged biodegradability by leaving samples in water. The synthetic polymer proved toughest in the bending test, but the natural polymer held the most weight and was the most scratch-resistant. The hybrid showed elongation and elasticity qualities. The hybrid polymer biodegraded in three days, the natural polymer in seven. The synthetic didn't break down.
