• Question: how can polymers help us with our everyday lives

    Asked by izzy2429 to Amy, Sarah, Will on 21 Jun 2012.
    • Photo: Will Reynolds

      Will Reynolds answered on 21 Jun 2012:

      Hi Izzy. Polymers are all around us alll of the time! Plants are made of a natural polymer called cellulose. Plastics are polymers that are usually made from oil. Car tyres are made from rubber which is a polymer. Synthetic foam in pillows and cushions is a polymer and even Nylon, used to make clothes and fabrics is a polymer! The first man made polymer was made in 1970 called Bakalite and ever since then the number of polymers in our lives has gone through the roof and is still increasing today. But one big problem with man made polymers is that most of them dont degrade in the envirionemt and can cause pollution, so there are lots of people trying to develop biodegradable polymers to solve this problem. Hope this helps! Thanks for your question.

    • Photo: Sarah Martin

      Sarah Martin answered on 21 Jun 2012:

      Hi izzy,

      polymers really are everywhere! In our clothes (viscose, nylon, acrylic), in shampoo, hand cream, hair spray, all plastic things, our mobile phones and computers… the list is huge!

      There are however clever ways that polymers can help us that are less obvious. Scientists have developed large plastic sheets that are printed with polymers that have special electric properties and can work as very cheap and easily produced solar cells! It would be brilliant if we could use these on greenhouses in sunny places to make electricity! Another cool thing about these is that they are flexible and we can use them in clothing and bags – like this one:

      So in the near future, all our electronic gadgets could be really thin, flexible and water proof – and made entirely of polymers! You may be able to fold your laptop up like a piece of paper and stick it in your pocket!

      🙂 Sarah

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