Instant micro plastics: just add seawater!
Comment on Scientists in Japan develop plastic that dissolves in seawater within hours
Archangel1313@lemmy.ca 3 weeks ago
It dissolves…but into what? Sounds like a recipe for a petroleum salt water mix that’s probably just as toxic as melted plastic, unless all the petroleum is removed.
SoleInvictus@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 weeks ago
notabot@lemm.ee 3 weeks ago
It’s a bit of a stretch calling it a plastic, as it’s not petroleum based from what I’ve read.
Munkisquisher@lemmy.nz 3 weeks ago
Is that necessary for plastic? The name comes from the Greek for “to mould”. For me, anything that makes long chain mouldable polymers is a plastic. Milk makes Casein or Galalith plastic, PLA is commonly made of corn. There’s a ton of bamboo fabrics that are essentially nylon made from cellulose.
setsubyou@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
It doesn’t seem to be based on petroleum, since they’re explicitly comparing it to petroleum-based plastics…
There also are other non-petroleum based plastics that dissolve in water. This part is not new. E.g. polyvinyl alcohol is used widely.
What’s new about this one is that it specifically needs salt to dissolve and they claim it’s otherwise relatively sturdy. So maybe it could be used instead of pet bottles for drinks?
Munkisquisher@lemmy.nz 3 weeks ago
There’s a lot of sodium in most fizzy drinks, wonder if that rules them out for this. Or does it have to be sodium chloride specifically?
thebestaquaman@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Without checking out the details, I can say with fairly high confidence that a material that will be degraded by a sodium chloride solution will most likely also be degraded by other electrolytes as well.
However, the electrolyte-concentration in drinks is much, much lower than that in seawater. And if it can’t be used for electrolyte-containing drinks, it could be used for water bottles.
Maybe we could use this stuff for umbrellas too? My major concern is what this new material is broken down into.
Natanael@infosec.pub 3 weeks ago
Not in the winter, lol.
dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
For anyone wondering about where, just as an example, polyvinyl is: Polyvinyl acetate (i.e. PVA) is the stuff that wood glue is typically made out of. It’s also the binder used for those bird seed bells.