Scientists have discovered microplastics in human blood for the first time, warning that the ubiquitous particles could also be making their way into organs.
Environment
Mar 25, 2022
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7483
There are few places on Earth as isolated as Trindade island, a volcanic outcrop a three- to four-day boat trip off the coast of Brazil.
Earth Sciences
Mar 21, 2023
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8613
ETH researchers have created an incredibly lightweight 18-carat gold, using a matrix of plastic in place of metallic alloy elements.
Nanomaterials
Jan 10, 2020
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2134
Coastal plants and animals have found a new way to survive in the open ocean—by colonizing plastic pollution. A new commentary published Dec. 2 in Nature Communications reports coastal species growing on trash hundreds ...
Environment
Dec 2, 2021
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696
A team of environmental engineers at the University of Strathclyde in Scotland and Dalhousie University Halifax in Canada has found that techniques for recycling plastics may inadvertently lead to increased environmental ...
A team of researchers led by Meenesh Singh at University of Illinois Chicago has discovered a way to convert 100% of carbon dioxide captured from industrial exhaust into ethylene, a key building block for plastic products.
Materials Science
Sep 9, 2022
33
1275
Plastics are everywhere in our daily lives, but not all plastics are created equal—far from it.
Polymers
Apr 26, 2023
1
656
Plastic recycling rates are declining even as production shoots up, according to a Greenpeace U.S. report out Monday that blasted industry claims of creating an efficient, circular economy as "fiction."
Environment
Oct 24, 2022
0
592
Researchers have created a plant-based, sustainable, scalable material that could replace single-use plastics in many consumer products.
Materials Science
Jun 10, 2021
6
1690
There may be a small answer to one of the biggest problems on the planet.
Cell & Microbiology
Mar 27, 2020
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2586
A plastic material is any of a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic organic solids used in the manufacture of industrial products. Plastics are typically polymers of high molecular mass, and may contain other substances to improve performance and/or reduce production costs. Monomers of plastic are either natural or synthetic organic compounds.
The word plastic is derived from the Greek πλαστικός (plastikos) meaning capable of being shaped or molded, from πλαστός (plastos) meaning molded. It refers to their malleability, or plasticity 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.
There are two types of plastics: thermoplastics and thermosetting polymers. Thermoplastics are the plastics that do not undergo chemical change in their composition when heated and can be moulded again and again; examples are polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, polyvinyl chloride and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE). Thermosets can melt and take shape once; after they have solidified, they stay solid.
The raw materials needed to make most plastics come from petroleum and natural gas.
This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA
