Plastics And Their Environmental Impact - 1551 Words

Plastics and their Environmental Impact – Issues Investigation 1. Describe what plastics are. Plastics are materials that can be moulded into any shape by applying heat and/or pressure while soft but obtain a hard a rigid structure when hardened. Plastics are mainly carbon based and can be made out of materials such as crude oil, plants, minerals, natural gas and coal. Plastics are made up of large molecules called polymers which are made up of shorter compounds called monomers. To make various types of plastics, chemists use different types of monomers in different arrangements to change the chemical and physical properties. 2. State the two main types of plastics and describe their physical and chemical properties. The two main†¦show more content†¦3. Research how one of the main types of plastics is manufactured. To make Thermoplastics, chemists have to create the polymers by arranging different monomers in a specific structure depending on what the plastic is going to be used for. The Thermoplastics’ polymers are not linked and have no chemical bonds to ensure that in can be remoulded once hardened. This is combined in a heated pot which is then cooled. While cooling, the mixture is separated into a bead or pellet form for easy distribution. This is then shipped to companies which reheat the mixture and use different methods to make the plastic product. The different methods include injection moulding (used for containers), blow moulding (used for plastic bottles), extrusion (used for plastic films) and rotational moulding (used for toys, furniture, etc.). 4. Find out two other uses for the plastic chosen in number 3. Two other uses for Thermoplastics other than film and packaging include to make acrylic and to make plastic bottles. 5. Choose and collect 3 different everyday plastic items/packaging. a. Find their identification code (usually on the bottom of the packaging is a number in a triangle) Mineral Water Bottle - 1 Takeaway Container - 5 Cream Container – 6 b. Research what the identification code for each item stands for. Identification number 1 stands for Polyethylene Terephthalate and is commonly used for soft drink bottles, water bottles and packaging household cleaners.