Sariah Anderson

October 9, 2014

Bed Bud invention

Did you know that bed bugs increase when you try to kill them with
chemicals? These chemicals used to kill bed bugs are harmful for the
environment. When three students tried to make a trap to capture bed bugs they
use various scientific processes. These processes they used were asking
questions, planning and hypothesizing, conducting experiments and analyzing
their data. The scientific method is a way to ask and answer scientific questions
by making observations and doing experiments. The question you should ask
yourself is has anyone invented a non-chemical trap for bed bugs?
The trio from New York has finally invented a non-chemical way to get rid
of bed bugs. They thought and asked questions about these theories. The three
students Daniel, Jacob and Michal were on a tour and saw an electro spinning
apparatus and thought they could use it to make an eco friendly way to kill bed
bugs. An electro spinning apparatus is a machine that is used to create fibers
that are also used to make filters or a surface for cells to grow on. The students
wondered if they could use the electro spinning apparatus to make a trap using
the fibers to place around the legs of the bed.
The students wanted to use non-chemical, cheap, and environment
friendly materials. So they decided to use Polylactic acid (PLA), Polystyrene, and
Ecoflex. They got Polylactic acid from dissolving a clear plastic cup, they got
Polystyrene from dissolving a Styrofoam coffee cup, and Ecoflex is a
biodegradable material. They hypothesized to use them so they could put them
on the legs of the beds to trap the bedbugs with the mesh. When the bedbugs
are encountered with the mesh it becomes stuck because the mesh tangles
around the bedbugs spines. Mesh is made from polymers. Polymers are
substances that have a molecular structure consisting most or all of a large
numbers of similar units bonded together.
When they got the materials that they were going to use for the trap they
had to conduct experiments. They spun all three polymers to see which one
would work best to catch the bedbugs. When they spun the Polylactic acid and
the Ecoflex under the microscope, they saw that the spaces was too small for the
bedbug legs to get trough and get stuck in the mesh. But when they looked at the
polystyrene under the microscope, they saw that the space was just the right size
for the bedbugs legs to fit and get stuck in. If the trap work the mesh will tangle
around the bedbug spine, then it wont be able to move and dry out then die.
So in conclusion the scientific processes can help people to answer scientific
questions by making observations and doing experiments. Now since the trio
used the scientific process from going on the tour they made a lot of money.