Fri, 6 April 2018
The same chemistry that makes plastic tough, light and flexible also makes it nearly impossible to get rid of, because it’s hard to break those resilient chemical bonds. Thanks to the University of Minnesota for sponsoring this video! http://twin-cities.umn.edu/ Thanks also to our Patreon patrons https://www.patreon.com/MinuteEarth and our YouTube sponsors. ___________________________________________ To learn more, start your googling with these keywords: Subscribe to MinuteEarth on YouTube: http://goo.gl/EpIDGd Say hello on Facebook: http://goo.gl/FpAvo6 And download our videos on itunes: https://goo.gl/sfwS6n Credits (and Twitter handles): ___________________________________________ Image Credits: Disposable plastic cup - Wikimedia user Lionel Allorge Sandbox and Beach Toys - The Children's Museum of Indianapolis PET plastic - Montgomery County Division of Solid Waste Services LEGO Tank - Flickr user MaxFragg PVC Pipe - Pam Broviak IKEA Watering cans - Sonny Abesamis LEGO Figure - Marco Verch Wetsuit - Clemens Pfeiffer White PVC Pipes - Teresa Trimm STS-120 Shuttle Mission Imagery - NASA Providing clean water - UK Department for International Development ___________________________________________ References: Albertsson, A. and Hakkarainen, M. (2017). Designed To Degrade. Science. 358 (6365). 872-873. Retrieved from: http://science.sciencemag.org/content... De Hoe, G., Zumstein, M., Tiegs, B., Brutman, J., McNeill, K., Sander, M., Coates, G., and Hillmyer, M. (2018). Sustainable Polyester Elastomers from Lactones: Synthesis,Properties, and Enzymatic Hydrolyzability. Journal of the American Chemical Society. 140: 963-973. Retrieved from: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/jacs... Tokiwa, Y., Calabia, B., Ugwu, C., and Aiba, S. (2009). Biodegradability of Plastics. International Journal of Molecular Sciences. 10: 3722-3742. Retrieved from: http://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/10/9/3722 Rydz, J., ,Sikorska, W., Kyulavska, M., and Christova, D. (2015). International Journal of Molecular Sciences. 16: 564-596. Retrieved from: http://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/16/1/564 Hillmyer, M. (2017). The Promise of Plastics from Plants. Science. 358 (6365). 868-870. Retrieved from: http://science.sciencemag.org/content... Hillmyer, M. (2017). Department of Chemistry, University of Minnesota. Personal Communication. |