Why is polyethylene environmentally friendly?

Answer 1

Plastics are usually long chains of carbon and hydrogen atoms. The enzymes found in living things can perform many chemical reactions, but they generally exploit some sort of imbalance of electric charge within a molecule to do their job. A long chain of carbons and hydrogens contains very balanced charges along its length, making the molecule stable and difficult to change with enzymes. Most biodegradable substances contain some mixture of carbon and atoms like oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur, and phosphorus, which create charge imbalances that enzymes can exploit. There are some bacteria that can break down plastics. These bacteria usually contain enzymes called oxygenases, which can add oxygen to a long carbon chain. This destabilizes the local electric charge, and the plastic can then be broken down. You don't find oxygenase enzymes too often, however, because they can easily destroy the molecules in the bacteria that carries it.

Answer 2

Poly ethane is the UPAC name of polyethylene and is known as the most common plastic. Despite the fact that polyethene can be produced from renewable sources, no organisms can decompose them making it non-biodegradable.

Answer 3

Different plastics have different properties. The following is one example of a non-biodegradable plastic.

Rubber plastic, used in tires, is formed by curing natural latex from the rubber tree (Hevea brasiliensis) with sulfur in high heat and casting it into a mould. The result of this "vulcanization" process is a single molecule of rubber which is extremely difficult to break down naturally. This process was made popular in modernity by Charles Goodyear, though similar processes have been recognized in mesoamerican civilization.

In order to be biodegradable, the linkages in the polymer must be of a type that can be broken by an enzyme. Polyolefins are difficult to lyse; polyamides and polyesters are easier as there are enzymes for those kinds of structures (steric hindrance is still a problem, but at least it's theoretically possible). Highly crosslinked polymers (such as vulcanized rubber) are extremely difficult to break down, as breaking one bond will not usually separate the molecule into two pieces.

Answer 4

The molecule of plastic is very long consisting of carbon atoms linked together forming a long chain. Most of the plastics are manufactured by using fossil fuls as raw materials. They contain hydrocarbons which form the building blocks of plastic, commonly known as monomers. These monomers combine together to form polymers. Due to this kind of complicated composition, plastics cannot be broken down to simpler substances. Thus they are non-biodegradable.

Answer 5

Plastic is considered a nonrenewable resource because it cannot be replaced. Some plastics can actually be considered a renewable resources though.

Answer 6

they live in your buttonhole and make vagina funds when provoked

Answer 7

Because some types of polyethylene are biodegradable .

Answer 8

otherwise they couldnt be plastic