Plastic pollution has emerged as one of our most pressing environmental issues with the increasing use of disposable plastics. As they are non-biodegradable, plastics accumulate in the environment, altering habitats and natural ...
Environment
17 hours ago
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3
Mongolian herder Purev Batmunkh sighs as he picks through waste strewn across a field—the refuse of an unsightly and deadly waste pollution problem affecting swathes of the steppe.
Environment
Jul 26, 2024
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51
You would be hard-pressed to find a corner of the world free from microplastics, plastic particles measuring less than five millimeters. They contaminate our drinking water, accumulate in the food we eat and have been found ...
Environment
Jul 25, 2024
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1
Along the shores of Acadia National Park, Bar Harbor and the Schoodic Peninsula are the vast, briny waters of Frenchman Bay. With 98 square miles of water and 39 islands, the bay is vital to shorebirds, fish, lobstermen and ...
Environment
Jul 24, 2024
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Toxic "forever chemicals" are increasingly being used in US pesticides, threatening human health as they contaminate waterways and are sprayed on staple foods, a study said Wednesday.
Environment
Jul 24, 2024
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91
If you ask someone where plastic ends up, they will usually say the ocean. It's not a surprising answer because we have known since the 1970s that plastic is accumulating in the subtropical oceans, far from land.
Environment
Jul 23, 2024
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If not the root of all evil, chemical pollution is surely responsible for a good chunk of it. At least, that's how it feels sometimes when reading the news and the latest research.
Environment
Jul 23, 2024
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President Joe Biden's administration on Friday announced plans to phase out single-use plastics in all federal operations by 2035, as part of a broader effort to combat what it deemed a rising global crisis.
Environment
Jul 19, 2024
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A new study conducted by researchers from the University of Delaware and Argonne National Laboratory describes a chemical reaction that can convert Styrofoam into a high-value conducting polymer known as PEDOT:PSS.
Polymers
Jul 19, 2024
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35
A study has found that waste from the global apparel industry is leaking millions of tons of plastic into the environment each year—an overlooked pollution source which may be getting worse over time.
Environment
Jul 16, 2024
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53
Plastic is the general common term for a wide range of synthetic or semisynthetic organic amorphous solid materials suitable for the manufacture of industrial products. Plastics are typically polymers of high molecular weight, and may contain other substances to improve performance and/or reduce costs.
The word derives from the Greek πλαστικός (plastikos) meaning fit for molding, and πλαστός (plastos) meaning molded. It refers to their malleability, or plasticity during manufacture, that allows them to be cast, pressed, or extruded into an enormous 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, for instance, is plastic in this sense, but not a plastic in the common sense; while some plastics, in their finished forms, will break before deforming and therefore are not plastic in the technical sense.
There are two types of plastics: thermoplastics and thermosets. Thermoplastics, if exposed to enough heat, will melt. Thermosets will keep their shape until they are charred and burnt. Some examples of thermoplastics are grocery bags, piano keys and some automobile parts. Examples of thermosets are children's dinner sets and circuit boards.
This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA
