Essay On Synthetic Polymers

Plastic is a word that originally meant “pliable and easily shaped.” It only recently became a name for a category of materials called polymers. The word polymer means “of many parts,” and polymers are made of long chains of molecules. Polymers are abound in nature. Over the last century and a half humans have learned how to make synthetic polymers, sometimes using natural substances like cellulose, but more often using the plentiful carbon atoms provided by petroleum and other fossil fuels. Synthetic polymers are made up of long chains of atoms, arranged in repeating units, often much longer than those found in nature. It is the length of these chains, and the patterns in which they are arrayed, that make polymers strong, lightweight, and flexible. In other words, it’s what makes them so plastic. These properties make synthetic polymers exceptionally useful thus polymers have become an essential part of our lives.
Plastics play a significant role in the building and construction industry. In fact, the industry is the second largest consumer of plastic, followed only by the packaging industry. In the construction

Sustainable agriculture has evolved to maximize land use and conserve natural resources and polymers, in the form of plastics, help this goal. However, the increased use of plastics designed for long term usage but used in short-term applications creates a disposal and environmental issue. Current research focuses on using natural polymers (i.e. carbohydrates such as starch and cellulose, plant proteins and oils) to create biodegradable plastics to replace petroleum-sourced plastics, as well as designing functional biopolymers that are sensitive to their environment and release agrochemicals on demand in a controlled