C1E - Polymer Uses Flashcards
Harry has a lot of polymers he wants to get rid off. What 3 options does he have ?
Landfill site
Burning them
Recycling
Polymers are nonbiodegradable. What does this mean ?
They will not decay or decompose by bacterial action
Why would we encourage harry to recycle his polymers instead of burning or putting them in a landfill site ?
Landfill sites fill up quickly and waste land and plastic.
Burning polymers release poisonous gases such as acidic sulfur dioxide, hydrogen chloride and hydrogen cyanide.
If recycling would solve many problems with disposing of polymers why doesn’t everyone do it ?
Sorting out lots of different plastics is difficult and expensive
Plastics with weak intermolecular forces between polymer molecules have what kind of melting points ?
Low
Plastics with high melting points have what kind of forces ?
Strong. Most likely covalent bonds or cross linking bridges
Why can plastics with weak intermolecular forces be stretched easily ?
The polymer molecules can slide over one another
If plastic A has a low melting point and plastic B a high melting point. What are their properties ?
Plastic a - stretchy
Plastic b - strong and rigid
What type of polymers would we use to make plastic milk bottles ?
Strong and rigid ones
Harry wants to make a microwave container to heat things up in. He wants to use low density Polyethene. Why’s that not a good idea ?
It has a low melting point so it will basically be useless
What is it about polystyrene foam that makes it a good thermal insulator ?
The trapped air in the foam
Nigel owns a clothing company and he has a lot of exercise garments made from Nylon. He soon realises that nylon isn’t waterproof. What can he do to make it waterproof ?
Coat it in polyurethane
Nigel’s clothes are now coated in polyurethane but the sports shop buyer is not going to buy it. Why ?
Polyurethane doesn’t let water vapour (sweat) out. So whilst doing exercise sweat will condense on the inside making skin and clothes wet and uncomfortable because the material isn’t breathable.
Nigel wants his garment to not let water in but let sweat out. What should he make it out of ?
Gore Tex
How is Gore Tex made ?
Laminating a thin film of plastic called expanded PTFE onto a layer of another fabric e.g Nylon. This makes the PTFE sturdier
