Plastic – a useful material in today’s life

Plastic – a useful material in today’s life

Plastics are everywhere. While you’re reading this article, there are probably numerous plastic items within your reach (your computer, your pen, your phone). A plastic is any material that can be shaped or moulded into any form — some are naturally occurring,
but most are man-made.

Plastics are made from oil. Oil is a carbon-rich raw material, and plastics are large carbon-containing compounds. They’re large molecules called polymers, which are composed of repeating units of shorter carbon-containing compounds called monomers. Chemists
combine various types of monomers in many different arrangements to make an almost infinite variety of plastics with different chemical properties. Most plastic is chemically inert and will not react chemically with other substances — you can store alcohol,
soap, water, acid or gasoline in a plastic container without dissolving the container itself. Plastic can be moulded into an almost infinite variety of shapes, so you can find it in toys, cups, bottles, utensils, wiring, cars, even in bubble gum. Plastics
have revolutionized the world.

Because plastic doesn’t react chemically with most other substances, it doesn’t decay. Therefore, plastic disposal poses a difficult and significant environmental problem. Plastic hangs around in the environment for centuries, so recycling is the best method
of disposal. However, new technologies are being developed to make plastic from biological substances like corn oil. These types of plastics would be biodegradable and better for the environment.

A chemist named Leo Baekeland synthesized Bakelite, the first truly synthetic polymer, from a mixture of phenol and formaldehyde. The condensation reaction between these monomers allows the formaldehyde to bind the phenol rings into rigid three-dimensional
polymers. So, Bakelite can be moulded when hot and solidified into a hard plastic that can be used for handles, phones, auto parts, furniture and even jewellery. Bakelite is hard, resistant to heat and electricity, and can’t be easily melted or scorched once
cooled. The invention of Bakelite led to a whole class of plastics with similar properties, known as phenolic
resins.

In this article, we’ll examine the chemistry of plastic, how it’s made, how it’s used, and how it’s disposed of and recycled. We’ll also look at some new biologically based plastics and their role in the future of plastic.

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Posted by M. Omer Iqbal bhatti on Nov 14 2011. Filed under Sci-Tech. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry