Plastic

What is Plastic?

A synthetic polymer that can be shaped into useful objects; plastics are strong, light and chemically unreactive, which makes them useful and also makes their disposal difficult.

This definition is part of the Organic Chemistry chapter in Cambridge O Level Chemistry.

Concepts related to Plastic

• non-biodegradable
• landfill
• recycling

Common mistakes with Plastic

• 20. “Plastics should not be used because they are bad for the environment.” defect A verdict offered where a mechanism was asked for. why No property is named, no consequence is traced, and nothing in the sentence could be marked right or wrong. repair Name the property, then the consequence: “the C–C and C–H bonds are unreactive, so microorganisms cannot break them down, so the plastic persists in landfill”. transfer Build the same property-to-consequence chain for burning poly(chloroethene).