What is plastic mainly made of?

Answer 1

It may surprise students to learn that gutta-percha, shellac, and the horns of animals-all naturally occurring substances-were used as plastic material before the first synthetic plastics were produced. Gutta-percha is derived from the sap of certain trees, and shellac is made from the secretions of a tiny scale insect. Before horn can be used, however, it must be "plasticized," or softened, by being boiled in water or soaked in an alkaline solution.

The first synthetic plastic was made from the plant material cellulose. In 1869, John Wesley Hyatt, an American printer and inventor, found that cellulose nitrate could be used as an inexpensive substitute for ivory. The mixture could be plasticized with the addition of camphor. Celluloid, as this new material was called, became the only plastic of commercial importance for 30 years. It was used for eyeglass frames, combs, billiard balls, shirt collars, buttons, dentures, and photographic film.

In 1951, two young research chemists for Phillips Petroleum Company in Bartlesville, Okla., made discoveries that revolutionized the plastics world. Today, the plastics they discovered-polypropylene and polyethylene-are used to produce the vast majority of the thousands of plastics products all over the world. (Read more about their discoveries in "Serendipity, Science & Discoveries" in this publication.)

Answer 2

oil!!!!!!!!!!!
Plastic is made up of a polymer that is composed of a long chain of smaller molecules known as monomers. Monomers are then made up of atom that is extracted from natural substance classified as petrochemical.

Crude oil and natural gas are often the source of these elements.
Plastics are made of many repeating units of monomers to form a long chain known as a polymer. Different types of plastics have different monomers.

Examples of polymers that are plastics include polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and polystyrene.
It may surprise students to learn that gutta-percha, shellac, and the horns of animals-all naturally occurring substances-were used as plastic material before the first synthetic plastics were produced. Gutta-percha is derived from the sap of certain trees, and shellac is made from the secretions of a tiny scale insect. Before horn can be used, however, it must be "plasticized," or softened, by being boiled in water or soaked in an alkaline solution.

The first synthetic plastic was made from the plant material cellulose. In 1869, John Wesley Hyatt, an American printer and inventor, found that cellulose nitrate could be used as an inexpensive substitute for ivory. The mixture could be plasticized with the addition of camphor. Celluloid, as this new material was called, became the only plastic of commercial importance for 30 years. It was used for eyeglass frames, combs, billiard balls, shirt collars, buttons, dentures, and photographic film.

In 1951, two young research chemists for Phillips Petroleum Company in Bartlesville, Okla., made discoveries that revolutionized the plastics world. Today, the plastics they discovered-polypropylene and polyethylene-are used to produce the vast majority of the thousands of plastics products all over the world. (Read more about their discoveries in "Serendipity, Science & Discoveries" in this publication.)
plastics are polymers: long chains of atoms bonded to one another. Plastics are made from petroleum products. They can be made by Addition Polymerisation reactions from alkenes, such as...

Ethene --> Polyethene etc.

Condensation polymerisation can be made from amides to form polyamides.
This depends on the plastic for an exact answer but in general terms, plastic is a polymer. Polymers are made from monomers. PVC (polyvinylchloride) is generally seen as a hard plastic. It is made from vinyl chloride monomers which are pieced together to form a long chain. These are then placed alongside each other to form a coherent strand. This strand can be made into almost any shape with the use of heat and pressure.

Plastic is a generic term. There are many plastics and they are made from polymers. Just a few examples include, Low Density Polyethylene; High Density Polyethylene, polypropylene, polyvinyl chloride etc.

Plastic is made of monomers

Organic plastics are polymers, composed of monomers (repeating units). A polymer is a chain of molecules repeated again and again

these monomers will become plastic by addition polymerisation and the monomers are held by weak intramolecular forces and the forces may align themselves in a linear chain or a simple branched chain

Where do monomers come from?

Most monomers come from oil.

Carbon and HydrogenDifferent kinds of monomers produce different kinds of plastics.

All organic plastics include a long backbone of carbon.

Some plastics, such as polystyrene, are composed of monomers that contain only carbon and hydrogen.

Other kinds of plastics are "functionalized" with a wide variety of other kinds of atoms either present in the original monomer, or added later after polymerization.

Most amino acids can be composed entirely from carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen (CHON).

All the other amino acids can be composed of CHON and sulfur.

petrochemicals

Today most plastics are made from petrochemicals (crude oil and natural gas), although they can also be produced from corn and other biomasses. In manufacture from petrochemicals, refineries process crude oil to produce, first, fuels, such as gasoline, diesel, and a number of different lubricants. Then they spin off a wide variety of other petrochemicals. Some of these other petrochemicals are then used by chemical plants to make a wide variety of products such as fertilizers and plastic resins. Plastic resins are, in turn, used to produce many different types of plastic.

The majority of what we know as plastic today is made from materials that are extracted from crude oil. Often the same type of crude oil that is used to produce the fuels for cars.

• There are many other types of polymer, both natural and synthetic: cellulose, starch, silicones, Teflon, PVC, etc.

• Elementally, plastics can contain carbon (C), hydrogen (H), oxygen (O), but also nitrogen (N), chlorine (Cl), fluorine (F), silicon (Si), sulphur (S), and phosphorus (P). The term plastic merely refers to the property of being flexible but firm

a synthetic material

Answer 3

diffrent kind of plastic is made from diffrent kind polymers

Answer 4

It varies with which plastic you're making, but most are made of petroleum and/or natural gas.

Answer 5

well if your sensible you should know that it is oil.

Answer 6

its made up of lots of patrixles which is what makes up matter

i know my answer doesn't help but who cares(its a retoricl question)

Answer 7

plastic is made from plastic

Answer 8

It is mined in plastic mines.

Answer 9

from plastic

Answer 10

petroleum