“vaporize”
Stand back, microplastics, here comes vaporplastics.
Plastics are only plastics when many separate (often gaseous) molecules called monomers form large chains or webs called polymers. If you vaporize a polymer, it gets reverted to being many monomers
Great info, I was just making a bad joke. Thanks for the clarifications.
Are monomers harmless?
These specific monomers can be found in nature, and they are widely used in industrial applications beyond making plastics, for example they can fuel welding torches.
The monomer of PE is the gas ethylene, which is a plant hormone among other things, and if you combine it with hydrogen from water it makes ethanol, which is the kind of alcohol that is only mildly poisonous so we drink it. It’s the easiest way to get alcohol without fermentation, so we use it in industry. So I guess mostly it is.
Propylene, which is the monomer of polypropylene, is a gas that’s toxic in large concentrations, apparently it’s what makes forest fires poisonous, but it’s fine to have a little bit in the air, and it’s at least not carcinogenic.
The problem with plastics is not that they are toxic, it’s that we make too much and litter in everywhere, including our own body.
Much appreciated
Vaporware.
Smell that? That’s called freedumb
In 2095, 70% of all children’s eyes will contain vapor plastic.
If it will help us clean up our mess, then great.
But it’s not going to make it okay to continue churning out disposable plastics. We need the tech and we need to stop.
That doesn’t make sense. If we could reuse the same plastics over and over, they would be the ultimate in sustainable materials.
I think it would still break down and be in everything…
Fair, but that ship has sailed.
Yeah they talk about this kind of stuff in this story and how it isn’t going to save us. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rR2sYlDqdnw&t=762s
well that was depressing
That’s !nottheonion@lemmy.world material.
Finally
“Researchers,” meaning there’s no reason to believe this is actually practical and there is no mention of the energy costs. The latter is especially important because as bad as microplastics are, climate change is just as bad, if not worse.
Everything started as a proof of concept with no practical value at first. Like the transistor.
I think for me, if we have a way to keep a substantial portion from entering the environment, that’s something.
they had me in the first half
