What are 10 uses of plastic?

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Plastic is easy to mold when exposed to high temperatures, although if the temperature is too high it can decompose. For this reason, plastic is said to possess properties of flexibility and elasticity as it adapts to certain shapes.

Once it reaches its final form, plastic is quite resistant and difficult to degrade. Its uses are varied, it is used for the construction of bottles, tables, vases, among others.

In 1860, in a contest whose reward was 10,000 dollars, John Wesley Hyatt proposed dissolving cellulose in a solution of ethanol and camphor, and obtained celluloid (considered the first thermoplastic) with this simple process. At the time, the search was on for a substitute for natural ivory (which was used to make, for example, billiard balls).

Plastic is resistant to deterioration. However, it is important to mention that resistance is often not synonymous with sanitation. A plastic bottle may or may not be reusable, depending on the type of plastic from which the bottle is made. Each plastic object should have a label that specifies whether it is reusable or not.

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– Polyethylene (HDPE) (high density, low density, linear low density, etc.): It is used to create various products such as: bags, cling wrap, flexible bottles, toys, tubes, juice and milk containers, etc.

– Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC): It is mainly used in specific fields such as construction and medicine. In the manufacture of flexible plastics for medical devices, and to cover floors, ceilings, or to insulate electrical cables.

– Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET): This variant is mainly used for bottled liquids such as soft drinks, milk, juices, chemicals, etc. It is one of the most popular plastics at international level.

Everyday plastic objects

Plastic is a material made up of organic or synthetic compounds that have the property of being malleable and can therefore be molded into solid objects of various shapes. This property gives plastics a wide variety of applications.[1] Its name derives from plasticity, a property of materials, which refers to the ability to deform without breaking.

In 1839 Goodyear in the United States and Hancock in England developed in parallel the vulcanization of rubber, i.e. the hardening of rubber and its increased resistance to cold. This was the beginning of the commercial success of thermosetting polymers.[8] The plastics industry began with the development of plastics.

The plastics industry begins with the development of the first thermoset plastics by Baekeland in 1909. Baekeland produced the first synthetic polymer and also developed the plastic molding process, which enabled him to produce various articles of commerce. These early plastics were named Bakelite in honor of their discoverer. Bakelite is formed by a condensation reaction of phenol with formaldehyde.[9] Baekeland’s first synthetic polymer is called Bakelite.

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Monomers are the building blocks of the structure of plastics (e.g. ethylene). They are simple molecules (carbon and hydrogen). The union of many monomers constitutes a polymer (e.g. polyethylene).

It is produced through terephthalic acid and ethylene glycol by polycondensation. There are two types: textile grade and bottle grade, for bottle grade it must be post-condensed, and there are different colors for these uses.

It is a thermoplastic manufactured from ethylene (made from ethane, one of the components of natural gas). It is very versatile and can be transformed in different ways: injection, blow molding, extrusion or rotational molding.

It is produced from natural gas. Like HDPE, it is highly versatile and can be processed in different ways: injection, extrusion, blow molding and rotational molding. Its transparency, flexibility and economy make it present in a variety of containers, alone or in conjunction with other materials and in a variety of applications. Advantages