Chemistry of Plastics

Chemistry of Plastics What is Plastic? The word plastics comes from the Greek word plastikos, which means to form or to mold, but plastics is not a uniformly defined term. Solid, Liquid, or Gas? Plastics are made out of Polymers, but more specifically a synthetic polymer. -A polymer is a large molecule made up of smaller molecules that are joined together by chemical bonding. -In synthetic polymers, the selection of molecules and the chemical bonding process is man-made.

-This gives us material like nylon, polyester and polyethylene. Bonding Process First, crude oil, a natural raw material is converted into a monomer substance called Ethylene. From here, the monomer goes through a polymerization process which incorporates other additives to form a polymer which produce what is known as plastics resins. Plastics manufacturers purchase these resins and through the use of various plastics processing machines – injection molding, blow molding, etc., to manufacture a product. Uses of Plastics Plastic Isn't So Fantastic Plastic causes tons of pollution,
and is a part of the intense climate change
in the world. THEY ARE EVERYWHERE:
JUST LOOK AROUND The BIG Problem Plastics Are TERRIBLE For the Environment, all
because of the CHEMICAL MAKE-UP BUT WHY?? QUIZ TIME What Can You Do? ALWAYS REDUCE, REUSE, AND RECYCLE 1.What are Plastics made of?

a. Liquids
b.Polymers
c.Ceramics
d. Types of Glass 2. What's FIRST in the bonding process?

a. Crude oil is converted to ethylene
b.It goes into plastic resins
c.It's molded
d.It's manufactured 3. What's Plastics BIG PROBLEM?

a.It's expensive to make
b.It takes to long to manufacture
c.It's bad for the environment
d.It doesn't have good quality 4.What does Plastic do instead of Biodegrading? 5. What's one thing you can do to save the environment
from single use plastic? Plastic "Photodegrades" which means it doesn't
biodegrade, it just breaks up into smaller and
smaller pieces of plastic. Plastic isn’t so Fantastic One of the most significant environmental problems associated with plastics is the improper disposal of plastic goods by consumers. 25% of all plastic products
thrown away end up in landfills. But a significant amount of plastic
is not properly disposed in landfills
and makes its way into the environment. one of the greatest concentrations of plastic trash is a Texas-sized floating island of plastic debris in the north Pacific gyre. a collection of trash that has been swept together by ocean currents. Use canvas bags instead of
single use plastic bags Buy reusable water bottles http://www.whatisplastic.com/?page_id=2

http://www.stepin.org/casestudy.php?id=plastics&page=9

http://www.enviroliteracy.org/article.php/1188.html

http://www.endangeredspeciesinternational.org/plastic_gallery.html

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_XMiTPoCfVEw/TMmDIeaxnHI/AAAAAAAAABg/tQRuiUXlPYs/s1600/p.png&imgrefurl=http://namsmgroup.blogspot.com/2010/10/why-to-stop-using-plastic-bags.html&usg=__2pdowgQ7wLuXTyPzBFFBJKPGiO8=&h=480&w=640&sz=687&hl=en&start=43&zoom=1&tbnid=Ar2cWW8wVrSmYM:&tbnh=166&tbnw=221&ei=yNfbTfLqM8jngQfa2N3tDw&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dstop%2Busing%2Bplastics%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Dactive%26biw%3D1276%26bih%3D848%26tbm%3Disch0%2C1526&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=380&vpy=211&dur=750&hovh=194&hovw=259&tx=143&ty=88&sqi=2&page=3&ndsp=22&ved=1t:429,r:7,s:43&biw=1276&bih=848

The book citing is: Nagle, Jeanne. Living Green. New York, NY: Rosen Publishing, 2009 SOURCES ANSWERS 1. b.Polymers
2. a.Crude oil is converted to ethylene
3. c.It's bad for the environment
4. It photodegrades
5. Use canvas bags, use reusable water bottles,
always reduce, reuse, and recycle