plastic: a global environmental calamity
- Thread starter anatta
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Not really. But keep pretending if it makes you feel warm and sleep at night.
Not really; until you find a way to power a Boeing 747 with leftist blowhard gas, we will be depending on oil.
there is nothing like plastics for multiple uses from basically a similar mfg process.
It has EVERY POSSIBLE ADVANTAGE AS A MATERIAL you can concoct
But you can't dispose of it easily.
When we talk about plastic, we generally mean "plastics": if you're a diligent recycler, you'll know there are many types of plastic, all of which are different, both chemically (in their molecular makeup) and physically (in the way they behave toward heat, light, and so on).
It's hardly surprising that 3D printers use thermoplastics (plastics that melt when you heat them and turn solid when you cool them back down), and typically one called ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene).
Perhaps most familiar as the material from which LEGO® bricks are made, ABS is also widely used in car interiors (sometimes in outside parts such as hubcaps too), for making the insides of refrigerators,
and in plastic computer parts (it's quite likely the mouse and keyboard you're using right now are made from ABS plastic).
So why is this material used for 3D printing? It's really a composite of a hard, tough plastic (acrylonitrile) with a synthetic rubber (butadiene styrene).
It's perfect for 3D printing because it's a solid at room temperatures and melts at a little over 100°C (220°F), which is cool enough to melt inside the printer without too much heat and hot enough that models printed from it won't melt if they're left in the Sun.
Once set, it can be sanded smooth or painted; another useful property of ABS is that it's a whiteish-yellow color in its raw form, but pigments (the color chemicals in paint) can be added to make it virtually any color at all. According to the type of printer you're using, you feed it the plastic either in the form of small pellets or filaments (like plastic strings).
The future of 3D printing
Many people believe 3D printing will herald not merely a tidal wave of brash, plastic gimmicks but a revolution in manufacturing industry and the world economy that it drives. Although 3D printing will certainly make it possible for us to make our own things, there's a limit to what you can achieve by yourself with a cheap printer and a tube of plastic.
The real economic benefits are likely to arrive when 3D printing is universally adopted by big companies as a central pillar of manufacturing industry.
First, that will enable manufacturers to offer much more customization of existing products, so the affordability of off-the-shelf mass-production will be combined with the attractiveness of one-off, bespoke artisan craft.
Second, 3D printing is essentially a robotic technology, so it will lower the cost of manufacturing to the point where it will, once again, be cost-effective to manufacture items in North America and Europe that are currently being cheaply assembled (by poorly paid humans) in such places as China and India.
Finally, 3D printing will increase productivity (since fewer people will be needed to make the same things), lowering production costs overall, which should lead to lower prices and greater demand—and that's always a good thing, for consumers, for manufacturers, and the economy.
https://www.explainthatstuff.com/how-3d-printers-work.html
It's hardly surprising that 3D printers use thermoplastics (plastics that melt when you heat them and turn solid when you cool them back down), and typically one called ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene).
Perhaps most familiar as the material from which LEGO® bricks are made, ABS is also widely used in car interiors (sometimes in outside parts such as hubcaps too), for making the insides of refrigerators,
and in plastic computer parts (it's quite likely the mouse and keyboard you're using right now are made from ABS plastic).
So why is this material used for 3D printing? It's really a composite of a hard, tough plastic (acrylonitrile) with a synthetic rubber (butadiene styrene).
It's perfect for 3D printing because it's a solid at room temperatures and melts at a little over 100°C (220°F), which is cool enough to melt inside the printer without too much heat and hot enough that models printed from it won't melt if they're left in the Sun.
Once set, it can be sanded smooth or painted; another useful property of ABS is that it's a whiteish-yellow color in its raw form, but pigments (the color chemicals in paint) can be added to make it virtually any color at all. According to the type of printer you're using, you feed it the plastic either in the form of small pellets or filaments (like plastic strings).
The future of 3D printing
Many people believe 3D printing will herald not merely a tidal wave of brash, plastic gimmicks but a revolution in manufacturing industry and the world economy that it drives. Although 3D printing will certainly make it possible for us to make our own things, there's a limit to what you can achieve by yourself with a cheap printer and a tube of plastic.
The real economic benefits are likely to arrive when 3D printing is universally adopted by big companies as a central pillar of manufacturing industry.
First, that will enable manufacturers to offer much more customization of existing products, so the affordability of off-the-shelf mass-production will be combined with the attractiveness of one-off, bespoke artisan craft.
Second, 3D printing is essentially a robotic technology, so it will lower the cost of manufacturing to the point where it will, once again, be cost-effective to manufacture items in North America and Europe that are currently being cheaply assembled (by poorly paid humans) in such places as China and India.
Finally, 3D printing will increase productivity (since fewer people will be needed to make the same things), lowering production costs overall, which should lead to lower prices and greater demand—and that's always a good thing, for consumers, for manufacturers, and the economy.
https://www.explainthatstuff.com/how-3d-printers-work.html
Into the Night
Contributor
It's not about lying. It's about phenomenology. All observations are subject to the problems of phenomenology. He simply believes the garbage he sailed through is the 'Pacific Garbage Patch'. His belief doesn't make it so.
Into the Night
Contributor
Studies of these bacteria have been underway for some time now, ever since we found they exist in the ocean and help remove oil spills.
They are just as effective on plastics.
Into the Night
Contributor
Hemp is a fibrous plant, useful for making paper and rope (and smoking it if you get the more potent varieties).
Nope. Hemp does not make plastic.
Hemp is not illegal.
Hemp never went anywhere. It is still raised as a crop for paper and rope products.
Into the Night
Contributor
Into the Night
Contributor
Your dam socialist hero, FDR, had to go and make MJ illegal.
Hemp is not illegal. It is still a crop raised today for rope and paper products.
Into the Night
Contributor
Attempted force of negative proof fallacy. Math error. Do you realize just how big an ocean is? Do you realize that almost all of our plastic that we use goes into landfills and never reaches the ocean? Yes, even the recycled stuff goes into the landfill eventually.
Into the Night
Contributor
Plastic is not a soup, and the neither is the ocean. Plastic does not break down into toxic materials that stay in the ocean. Chlorine vents off. Salts aren't toxic. This assumption that plastic contains breaks down into 'toxic materials' is bogus.
Into the Night
Contributor
Why not? Plastics are useful.
Into the Night
Contributor
The computer you are using right now could not exist without plastics. Neither could radio or radar systems, nor the aircraft that use them. Learn what a 'fact' is. A 'fact' is not a Universal Truth or a proof. Bigotry fallacy.
Into the Night
Contributor
We couldn't get to the Moon without plastics. NASA currently can't even get a manned rocket off the ground, much less to the Moon or anything. The Shuttle is retired, and it couldn't leave Earth orbit. (Oh...it required plastics to function as well).
Into the Night
Contributor
What global ecological collapse? Define 'climate change'. The alarm about coronavirus is fake news, perpetuated by Democrats. There is no 'pandemic'. There isn't even a 'situation'. 0.000135% of the world population infected is nothing to be concerned about. It's the flu season. Deal with it.
Even in China, more people die at the hands of their own government than by coronavirus.
Bigdog
Harris - make America a 3rd world shithole
It's not illegal to grow in the U.S. now, mainly thanks to Trump. But there were times in our history when it was illegal to grow.
Into the Night
Contributor
Yes, you can dispose of it easily. It goes into landfills, just like the rest of our garbage. It also burns. It's also food for bacteria. Don't chuck your garbage into the sea and you won't have to worry about seeing so much garbage at sea.
Into the Night
Contributor
When we talk about plastic, we generally mean "plastics": if you're a diligent recycler, you'll know there are many types of plastic, all of which are different, both chemically (in their molecular makeup) and physically (in the way they behave toward heat, light, and so on).
It's hardly surprising that 3D printers use thermoplastics (plastics that melt when you heat them and turn solid when you cool them back down), and typically one called ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene).
Perhaps most familiar as the material from which LEGO® bricks are made, ABS is also widely used in car interiors (sometimes in outside parts such as hubcaps too), for making the insides of refrigerators,
and in plastic computer parts (it's quite likely the mouse and keyboard you're using right now are made from ABS plastic).
So why is this material used for 3D printing? It's really a composite of a hard, tough plastic (acrylonitrile) with a synthetic rubber (butadiene styrene).
It's perfect for 3D printing because it's a solid at room temperatures and melts at a little over 100°C (220°F), which is cool enough to melt inside the printer without too much heat and hot enough that models printed from it won't melt if they're left in the Sun.
Once set, it can be sanded smooth or painted; another useful property of ABS is that it's a whiteish-yellow color in its raw form, but pigments (the color chemicals in paint) can be added to make it virtually any color at all. According to the type of printer you're using, you feed it the plastic either in the form of small pellets or filaments (like plastic strings).
The future of 3D printing
Many people believe 3D printing will herald not merely a tidal wave of brash, plastic gimmicks but a revolution in manufacturing industry and the world economy that it drives. Although 3D printing will certainly make it possible for us to make our own things, there's a limit to what you can achieve by yourself with a cheap printer and a tube of plastic.
The real economic benefits are likely to arrive when 3D printing is universally adopted by big companies as a central pillar of manufacturing industry.
First, that will enable manufacturers to offer much more customization of existing products, so the affordability of off-the-shelf mass-production will be combined with the attractiveness of one-off, bespoke artisan craft.
Second, 3D printing is essentially a robotic technology, so it will lower the cost of manufacturing to the point where it will, once again, be cost-effective to manufacture items in North America and Europe that are currently being cheaply assembled (by poorly paid humans) in such places as China and India.
Finally, 3D printing will increase productivity (since fewer people will be needed to make the same things), lowering production costs overall, which should lead to lower prices and greater demand—and that's always a good thing, for consumers, for manufacturers, and the economy.
https://www.explainthatstuff.com/how-3d-printers-work.html
3D printing typically uses PVA, a food grade plastic that easily decomposes in hot water or by exposure to UV. ABS is a tougher plastic (also used for sewer pipes) because of it's longer polymer. Left exposed, it will break down just like any plastic, though it takes a lot longer than plastics used for packaging, where the problem with garbage in the ocean lies.
Dispose of your plastics in the trash. It's perfectly safe landfill material.