What is plastic made of?

Question

Took me a week to actually post this because I have the feeling this is one of those things everyone knows.

'cept me :(

Answer 1

Actually i have noooo idea. i just think of it as...plastic. and other things r made of plastic. i never really thot of what plastic is made of...lol

Answer 2

A good question. It depends on which plastic you are referring to. I.e. biodegradable plastics can be made from things like corn.

Not a bad question at all!

Answer 3

Chemicals like by-products of petrol

Answer 4

Their are several different types of "plastic", they are all made of carbon and hydrogen but some have additional constituents.  Two of the most common are polyethylene, which consists of ethylene, C2H2, and polyvinyl chloride which consists of vinyl chloride, C2H3CI.  A plastic is made by reacting the molecules to form long chains, which could be hundreds of molecules long.

Answer 5

there are a bunch of different "plastics" but mainly it's made up of a synthetic polymer  (one chemical compound repeated over and over in long strands)

usually organic compounds

you've heard of stuff like "polyester" "polystyrine" ...stuff like that

Answer 6

Actually, I didn't know this until I took a college chem course.

It's made of hydrocarbons, the same thing that natural gas, butane lighters and gasoline are made of.  It's just hydrogen and carbon, bonded together.

The longer the chain of hydrocarbons gets, the more 'solid' it becomes.  When the chain has enough carbons, for example, it will have a solid, fatty composition (like animal fat).  With larger chains, formed under greater pressure, we can make plastic.