Plastic

Plastic is a material consisting of any of a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic organics that are malleable and can be molded into solid objects of diverse shapes. Plastics are typically organic polymers of high molecular mass, but they often contain other substances. They are usually synthetic, most commonly derived from petrochemicals, but many are partially natural.^[2] Plasticity is the general property of all materials that are able to irreversibly deform without breaking, but this occurs to such a degree with this class of moldable polymersthat their name is an emphasis on this ability.

Due to their relatively low cost, ease of manufacture, versatility, and imperviousness to water, plastics are used in an enormous and expanding range of products, from paper clips to spaceships. They have already displaced many traditional materials, such as wood,stone, horn and bone, leather, paper, metal, glass, and ceramic, in most of their former uses. In developed countries, about a third of plastic is used in packaging and another third in buildings such as piping used in plumbing or vinyl siding.^[3] Other uses include automobiles (up to 20% plastic^[3]), furniture, and toys.^[3] In the developing world, the ratios may be different - for example, reportedly 42% of India's consumption is used in packaging.^[3] Plastics have many uses in the medical field as well, to include polymer implants, however the field ofplastic surgery is not named for use of plastic material, but rather the more generic meaning of the word plasticity in regards to the reshaping of flesh.

The world's first fully synthetic plastic was bakelite, invented in New York in 1907 by Leo Baekeland^[4] who coined the term 'plastics'.^[5] Many chemists contributed to the materials science of plastics, including Nobel laureate Hermann Staudinger who has been called "the father of polymer chemistry" and Herman Mark, known as "the father of polymer physics".^[6] The success and dominance of plastics starting in the early 20th century led to environmental concerns regarding its slow decomposition rate after being discarded as trash due to its composition of very large molecules. Toward the end of the century, one approach to this problem was met with wide efforts toward recycling.

Contents

• 1 Etymology
• 2 Common plastics and uses
• 3 Special purpose plastics
• 4 History
• 5 Composition
  • 5.1 Fillers
  • 5.2 Plasticizers
  • 5.3 Colorants
• 6 Classification
  • 6.1 Thermoplastics and thermosetting polymers
  • 6.2 Other classifications
    • 6.2.1 Biodegradability
    • 6.2.2 Natural vs synthetic
    • 6.2.3 Crystalline vs amorphous
• 7 Ebonite
  • 7.1 Bakelite
• 8 Representative polymers
  • 8.1 Polystyrene
  • 8.2 Polyvinyl chloride
  • 8.3 Nylon
  • 8.4 Rubber
  • 8.5 Synthetic rubber
• 9 Properties of plastics
  • 9.1 UL Standards
  • 9.2 ISO
• 10 Toxicity
  • 10.1 Bisphenol A
• 11 Environmental effects
  • 11.1 Climate change
  • 11.2 Production of plastics
  • 11.3 Incineration of plastics
  • 11.4 Pyrolytic disposal
  • 11.5 Recycling
• 12 See also
• 13 References
• 14 External links

Etymology

The word plastic is derived from the Greek πλαστικός (plastikos) meaning "capable of being shaped or molded", from πλαστός (plastos) meaning "molded".^[7][8] It refers to their malleability, orplasticity during manufacture, that allows them to be cast, pressed, or extruded into a variety of shapes—such as films, fibers, plates, tubes, bottles, boxes, and much more.

The common word plastic should not be confused with the technical adjective plastic, which is applied to any material which undergoes a permanent change of shape (plastic deformation) when strained beyond a certain point. Aluminum which is stamped or forged, for instance, exhibits plasticity in this sense, but is not plastic in the common sense; in contrast, in their finished forms, some plastics will break before deforming and therefore are not plastic in the technical sense,...

Wikipedia

Multimedia:

Connections 1, Ep 9 "Countdown" connects the invention of the movie projector to improvements in castle fortifications caused by the invention and use of the cannon. The use of the cannon caused changes in castle fortifications to eliminate a blind spot where cannon fire could not reach. This improvement in castle defence caused innovation in offensive cannon fire, which eventually required maps. Thus a need arose to view and map locations (like a mountain top) from a long distance, which led to the invention of limelight light source, and later the incandescent light. Burke turns to the next ingredient for a movie projector, film. Film is made with celluloid (made with gun cotton) which was first invented as a substitute for ivory in billiard balls. Next was the invention of the zoopraxiscope which was first used for a bet to see if a horse's hooves all left the ground at any point while galloping. The zoopraxiscope used frame by frame pictures and holes on the side to allow the machine to pull the film forward. Communication signals for railways using Morse's telegraph led to Edison discovering how to speak into a microphone creating bumps on a disc that could be played back—the record player. This final ingredient gave movies sound. In summary, Burke connects the invention of the movie projector to four major innovations in history: the incandescent light; the discovery of celluloid; the projector that uses frame by frame pictures on celluloid; and finally, recorded sound.

Connections II #9 -: The connection between polyethylene and Big Ben is a few degrees of separation, so let's recount them: polyethylene, radar, soap, artificial dyes, color perception, tapestries, Far East goods, fake lacquer furniture, search for shorter route to Japan, Hudson in Greenland, the discovery of plentiful whales, printing the Bible, Mercator map, Martin Luther's protest, star tables, Earth as a flattened sphere, and George Graham's clock which of course leads to Big Ben.

RadioLab [2] example Fritz Haber saved a billion people with synthetic fertilizer but also created chemical weapons.

Environmental effects:  http://www.ic.ucsc.edu/college8core/c8wiki/index.php/Plastic

Royte, Elizabeth Garbage Land: On the Secret Trail of TrashIntroduction "Amphibious Assault"

Steingraber, Sandra *Living Downstream* explores the role of chemicals in cancer Time Pt 1 (C8 login required)Time Pt 2. She also traces their military origins of petrochemical industry in "War". A film is being made based on the book. Here's an interview with her about that (audio 5/10). Video documentary. See also Chemicals Page

Alan Weisman Polymers Are Forever: Alarming tales of a most prevalent and problematic substance, plastic .  Alan Weisman's book, The World Without Us, grew out of two questions, he said. One was, "How can I write a best-seller about the environment?" The answer to that was the second question: "How would the rest of nature behave without the constant pressure we put on it?" Longnow.org talk (audio). This led him to wonder how does population factor into all of this, which gives us Countdown: Our Last, Best Hope for a Future on Earth? 2014.

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News:

People began collecting athletic shoes like Old Master paintings, but now there's a crisis: polyeurethane breakdown.