Plastics and their Environmental Impact – Issues Investigation
1. Describe what plastics are.
Plastics are materials that can be moulded into any shape by applying heat and/or pressure while soft but obtain a hard a rigid structure when hardened. Plastics are mainly carbon based and can be made out of materials such as crude oil, plants, minerals, natural gas and coal. Plastics are made up of large molecules called polymers which are made up of shorter compounds called monomers. To make various types of plastics, chemists use different types of monomers in different arrangements to change the chemical and physical properties.
2. State the two main types of plastics and describe their physical and chemical properties.
The two main
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3. Research how one of the main types of plastics is manufactured.
To make Thermoplastics, chemists have to create the polymers by arranging different monomers in a specific structure depending on what the plastic is going to be used for. The Thermoplastics’ polymers are not linked and have no chemical bonds to ensure that in can be remoulded once hardened. This is combined in a heated pot which is then cooled. While cooling, the mixture is separated into a bead or pellet form for easy distribution. This is then shipped to companies which reheat the mixture and use different methods to make the plastic product. The different methods include injection moulding (used for containers), blow moulding (used for plastic bottles), extrusion (used for plastic films) and rotational moulding (used for toys, furniture, etc.).
4. Find out two other uses for the plastic chosen in number 3.
Two other uses for Thermoplastics other than film and packaging include to make acrylic and to make plastic bottles.
5. Choose and collect 3 different everyday plastic items/packaging.
a. Find their identification code (usually on the bottom of the packaging is a number in a triangle)
Mineral Water Bottle - 1
Takeaway Container - 5
Cream Container – 6
b. Research what the identification code for each item stands for.
Identification number 1 stands for Polyethylene Terephthalate and is commonly used for soft drink bottles, water bottles and packaging household cleaners.
Plastic is different to wood and metal because it was invented. It is man-made not made by nature like wood and metal are and it is a recent technological development because it was made only 40 years ago. It can have different things done to it to make it suit the task you want for example, you can change the color, make it unbreakable or make it hard. It’s cheaper to make products from plastic rather than wood or metal because it doesn’t need as much energy to manufacture.
When Fawcett and Gibson were experimenting with gasses that were under large amounts of pressure, they noticed a wax-like material that formed at the bottom of their test tube. This was very similar to Pechmann’s observation made in 1899. This time, however, Fawcett and Gibson noticed that this wax-like material could be formed into any shape that one could make. This property is what made polyethylene so unique from all other substances. Since this property of polyethylene was rediscovered in 1933, the number of uses of the material has only been increasing. Only two years after its “molding” property was discovered, the material began to be used for industrial purposes (Sharp 18). One of the first uses of polyethylene was in “the first round-the-world telephone cable” (Sharp 18). Some of the other materials that were made with polyethylene shortly after it was rediscovered included the following: “soda bottles [1933], milk jugs [1933], shopping bags [1933], children’s toys, particularly ‘Silly Putty’ [1949], and Velcro [1957]” (Bell
"Plastic" entered the world through chemistry in 1909 and was originally coined to describe Bakelite, the first fully synthetic resin. What make's plastic so unique is when it is heated it can be molded but it retained its shape when cooled (Reddy, 2010). The modern plastic bag was not possible until the accidental discovery of the first industrially practical method of polyethylene synthesis in 1933. Fast forward to today, the use and
“Plastic is forever… and a lot cheaper than diamonds” (Meikle 9). When plastics were first discovered they were called the material of 1,000 uses. This first, very primitive plastic was called Bakelite, discovered in 1907 (Knight 5). Although plastic today can be chemically analyzed very well, when first discovered there was very little information known about the benefits and downfalls of this material. Plastics have many unique characteristics that make them extremely desirable as an applicable material. They are better known in the world of chemistry as polymers, poly meaning many and mers meaning parts. In order for a substance to be classified as a polymer, a compound must be made up of many of these
Polyethylene is the world’s most widely used plastic. Polyethylene plastic’s principal application was in packaging, from trash bags to milk jugs. It was widely used in the manufacture of everything from trash bags, picnic cutlery and garbage pails, to plastic toys. Polyethylene also replaced glass, wood, and metal in certain applications.
The use of plastic products has exponentially increased as years pass. Plastic has been so thoroughly ingrained in our society because of its ability to last and because it is far cheaper than investing in other materials such as glass or wood. However, the immense plastic use has had far more detrimental effects on the environment. Plastic products have began to accumulate in landfills, oceans, cities, forests, harming the wildlife across the globe. The Colorado Plateau is not exempt from these effects of plastic waste and efforts should be made to protect it as well as all other environments. In response to the widespread effects of plastic waste, I decided to invest in a reusable water bottle and stop using plastic bottles entirely. I
Plastic is a general term for material consisting of a wide range of synthetic and semi-synthetic organic compounds that are malleable, hence can be moulded into different solid objects. Depending on the chemical process used in their synthesis, different types of plastic can be made, characterised by their hardness, resistance to heat, tensile strength, density and glass transition temperature. One such type is acrylic plastic.
The consumption of plastic increase because there are many development project and population rising. Plastic material growth is the innovation of newer areas that have development such as increasing plastics applications in automobile, transportation, defense and aerospace, medical and healthcare,electronic devices, construction and furniture.(Tandel 2015).
There are 7 types of plastic according to Mercola; “Plastic #1: Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) is things like water bottles and condiment containers, this plastic is listed as safe but can leach chemicals during production. Plastic #2: High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE) is used for milk, juice, and shampoo bottles, these are considered as a low level of toxicity. Plastic #3: Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) these plastics are used for plastic wrap, plastic toys, some medication containers. PVC is considered semi-toxic and releases hormonal toxins that can alter someone's hormones. Plastic #4: Low-Density Polyethylene (LDPE), used for bags, milk cartons, and garbage bags it is very low toxicity. Plastic #5: Polypropylene (PP), is used for yogurt and similar containers and is found to release some toxins.Plastic #6: Polystyrene (PS)”, this is styrofoam and is very bad it can release styrene which can damage the nervous system and is linked to cancer. Temperature also plays a role because when styrofoam is at a low temperature less is leaked and when at a high temperature more is leaked. Plastic #7: any other plastic or combination of plastics this one is dangerous because you don’t know what is in it and what chemicals you could be coming in contact
Look at the things around us—sunglasses, lunch boxes, ball-point pen, and many kinds of products we use every day; look at the garbage bags lie on the street, and the water bottle lies on the beach… many things around us are made of plastic. As a result, plastic is one of the most used materials in our daily lives. Admittedly plastic has some advantages; however, the disadvantages outweigh its advantages because of it is hard to decompose, wastes resources and contains toxic and harmful substances.
Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) is the most commonly used thermoplastic polyester. It is often called just “polyester” which often causes confusion, because polyester resins are thermosetting materials. PET is a transparent polymer, with a good mechanical properties and good dimensional stability under variable load. Moreover, PET has good gas barrier properties and good chemical resistance [3].
Students need to be able to identify plastic products and know how they use them in their everyday life.
Production and disposal of plastic can have significant environmental and economically impacts. During production, energy and resources are wasted and toxic chemicals are released into the air. Disposal of waste causes air, soil, and land pollution and harm to wildlife. The manufacturing process of plastic produces solid waste, air emissions and waterborne emissions. The raw materials used in creating plastic are derived from oil and natural gas. These are fossil fuels, which produce carbon emissions when used. For example, 430,000 gallons of oil is required to make 100 million plastic bags, and U.S alone makes 380 billion each year (Green & DeMeo, 2012, p.6). That means about 1.6 billion gallons of oil is wasted on
Plastic bottles contains a polyester known as Polythene terephthalate( Azapagic et al.2003).The polythene terephthalate is used in making the plastic bottles since it has a strong ability to create a gas barrier so that oxygen get into the drink and spoil it.
Polymeric materials has made enormous contributions in industrial era, from polyamide fibers to polyester fabrics, rubbers products used in second world war, invention of high performance and high temperature fluoropolymers, biologically derived resins, biodegradable polymeric materials, biocompatible medical plastics, natural and nanocomposite materials are list of evidences that made vital role in these past industrial evolution. These materials though broadly helped many industries, few industries are utilized polymeric materials extensively through its extensive new products . Primarily, medical industry application like chemical resistance and biocompatible materials helped to develop plastic syringe, disposable blood storage