Plastic
hidePlastic is the general common term for a wide range of synthetic or semisynthetic organic amorphous solid materials suitable for the manufacture of industrial products. Plastics are typically polymers of high molecular weight, and may contain other substances to improve performance and/or reduce costs.
The word derives from the Greek πλαστικός (plastikos) meaning fit for molding, and πλαστός (plastos) meaning molded. It refers to their malleability, or plasticity during manufacture, that allows them to be cast, pressed, or extruded into an enormous 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, for instance, is plastic in this sense, but not a plastic in the common sense; while some plastics, in their finished forms, will break before deforming and therefore are not plastic in the technical sense.
There are two types of plastics: thermoplastics and thermosets. Thermoplastics, if exposed to enough heat, will melt. Thermosets will keep their shape until they are charred and burnt. Some examples of thermoplastics are grocery bags, piano keys and some automobile parts. Examples of thermosets are children's dinner sets and circuit boards.
For more information about Plastic, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
News tagged with plastic
How Much Energy Goes Into Making a Bottle of Water?
Mar 17, 2009 |
4 / 5 (43) |
39
(PhysOrg.com) -- Most people who buy bottled water have access to clean drinking water virtually for free (in the US, tap water costs less than a penny per gallon, on average). Nevertheless, the consumption ...
Major advance in organic solar cells
Oct 19, 2009 |
4.5 / 5 (14) |
0
Professor Guillermo Bazan and a team of postgraduate researchers at UC Santa Barbara's Center for Polymers and Organic Solids (CPOS) today announced a major advance in the synthesis of organic polymers for plastic solar cells. ...
Scientists find 'great Pacific Ocean garbage patch'
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Aug 27, 2009 |
3.8 / 5 (33) |
30
Scientists have just completed an unprecedented journey into the vast and little-explored "Great Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch."
Plastics that convert light to electricity could have a big impact
Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials
Aug 04, 2009 |
4.6 / 5 (12) |
5
University of Washington researchers have found a way to measure exactly how much electrical current is carried by tiny bubbles and channels that form inside nanoscale solar cells, paving the way for development ...
Storing a Lightning Bolt in Glass for Portable Power
May 05, 2009 |
4 / 5 (21) |
9
(PhysOrg.com) -- Materials researchers at Penn State University have reported the highest known breakdown strength for a bulk glass ever measured. Breakdown strength, along with dielectric constant, determines ...
Flexible, transparent supercapacitors -- bend and twist them like a poker card
Mar 31, 2009 |
4.8 / 5 (15) |
10
It is a completely transparent and flexible energy conversion and storage device that you can bend and twist like a poker card.
One word: bioplastics
Nov 17, 2009 |
4.6 / 5 (14) |
4
(PhysOrg.com) -- Every year, more than 250 billion pounds of plastic are produced worldwide. Much of it ends up in the world's oceans, a fact that troubles MIT biology professor Anthony Sinskey.
Did India invent the nose job?
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Oct 29, 2009 |
3.7 / 5 (7) |
4
An Indian doctor working in 600 B.C. might have been the world's first plastic surgeon, according to a new exhibition that challenges Western domination of the history of science and technology.
Plastic Logic to unveil first e-reader in January
Electronics / Consumer & Gadgets
Oct 19, 2009 |
not rated yet |
0
Plastic Logic, a US company whose planned electronic reader has attracted a lot of media buzz, said Monday that it will announce the availability and pricing of the device for business professionals in January.
BPA linked to aggressive behavior in young girls, research suggests
Oct 08, 2009 |
4.7 / 5 (3) |
0
Pre-birth exposure to a chemical widely used in plastics appears to be linked to more aggressive behavior in little girls, according to research published Tuesday by a scientist at the University of North Carolina-Chapel ...
Janus particles: particles with two faces
Sep 18, 2009 |
4.4 / 5 (5) |
1
(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at the MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology at the University of Twente, The Netherlands, have devised a method for fabricating Janus particles, so called because, like the Roman ...
Plastics in oceans decompose, release hazardous chemicals, surprising new study says
Aug 19, 2009 |
4.5 / 5 (15) |
1
In the first study to look at what happens over the years to the billions of pounds of plastic waste floating in the world's oceans, scientists are reporting that plastics -- reputed to be virtually indestructible ...
Scientists ready to set sail for 'Great Pacific Garbage Patch,' in name of research
Aug 04, 2009 |
4.6 / 5 (9) |
0
Hoping to learn more about one of the most glaring examples of waste and environmental pollution on Earth, a group of scientists will set sail from San Francisco Tuesday to the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch," a massive vortex ...
Can Recycling Be Bad for the Environment?
Jul 14, 2009 |
3.2 / 5 (31) |
27
(PhysOrg.com) -- By now, nearly everyone knows that it is important to recycle. It helps the environment. Even my six-year-old knows that. But what if it doesn't? While it seems pretty straightforward, in ...
Voyage to the centre of the 'Plastic Vortex'
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
May 25, 2009 |
4.6 / 5 (65) |
37
A group of conservationists and scientists is due to set sail for an obscure corner of the Pacific Ocean in the coming months to explore a vast swirl of waste known as the "Plastic Vortex."
