The world of polymers

We live in the world of polymers. Hair, protein, sugars, cellulose, sand, stone, glass, plastic bowls, buckets, plastic bags - you will find polymer structures everywhere. Polymers resemble a thread. If we could look into the world of molecules, we would see long chains made up of thousands of interconnected and repeating elements, or monomers. Our hair is made of natural polymers, but it can also be made synthetically. This way we get all the plastics and some fabrics. Who has not heard of celluloid, silicones, bakelite, nylon or PVC, i.e. polyvinyl chloride, from which gramophone records and many others are made.


- The first polymers were discovered by accident in cotton plantations in the 19th century. Someone poured nitric acid on the cotton and it formed nitrocellulose. It has been noticed that when the material is heated it starts to melt and that it can be formed into various shapes. So, operative entrepreneurs began to produce billiard balls from it.

However, the great career of polymers began during the Second World War, when it turned out to be strategic material. In the 1960s, the world went crazy for faux nylon, every chic gentleman wore a nonajron shirt. In the 1980s, more plastic was produced than steel. To this day, they are in second place (200 million tons per year in the world) after cellulose. Plastics flooded the world.

- The problem is that such products are not biodegradable, a solution that has been known for a long time is recycling. Most of the bottles, cups and pouches can be recycled. The bumper from an old car can be converted into, for example, a pipe supplying cold air to the radiator, and the pipe into a floor covering, and then into fuel after another 10 years. The point is to recover plastics and process them many times.

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