Blog Post #7

Hello everyone! Today’s post about the age old question of what is plastic? The definition of plastic is any synthetic or semisynthetic organic polymer. I know confusing, but in simple terms it means while other elements might be present, plastics always include hydrogen and carbon. Most industrial plastic is made from petrochemicals however plastics also may be made from just about any organic polymer. Furthermore, the name “plastic” comes from plastics ability to deform without breaking. 

According to ThoughtCo some different properties of plastic are:

• Plastics are usually solids. They may be amorphous solids, crystalline solids, or semi crystalline solids (crystallites).
• Plastics are usually poor conductors of heat and electricity. Most are insulators with a high dielectric strength.
• Glassy polymers tend to be stiff (e.g., polystyrene). However, thin sheets of these polymers can be used as films (e.g., polyethylene).
• Nearly all plastics display elongation when they are stressed that is not recovered after the stress is removed. This is called “creep.” 
• Plastics tend to be durable, with a slow rate of degradation.

Also another interesting fact about plastic is that they take up to 1,000 years to decompose in landfills. Moreover, even plastic bags can take from 10 to 1,000 years to decompose.