http://alex.golub.name/log/2007/04/30/sinivit-is-on/ Just. One. Column. Fri, 23 Dec 2011 01:04:33 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://alex.golub.name/log/2007/04/30/sinivit-is-on/comment-page-1/#comment-90905 Ian Tue, 01 May 2007 15:46:11 +0000 http://alex.golub.name/log/2007/04/30/sinivit-is-on/#comment-90905 Plastics do, at some point in the chain, come out of the ground like our other tangible goods. Polypropylene and polyethylene make up most of your household plastics and they are made from propylene (propane) and ethylene (ethane) via a chemical polymerization. So, your over-education has correctly informed you that petroleum products are reprocessed. Kudos. However, Alex was careful to note that plastics are not dug out of the ground in the same way as metallic ore (i.e. - ore does not need polymerization). Wikipedia has a nice discussion of all the chemicals named. Plastics do, at some point in the chain, come out of the ground like our other tangible goods. Polypropylene and polyethylene make up most of your household plastics and they are made from propylene (propane) and ethylene (ethane) via a chemical polymerization. So, your over-education has correctly informed you that petroleum products are reprocessed. Kudos. However, Alex was careful to note that plastics are not dug out of the ground in the same way as metallic ore (i.e. – ore does not need polymerization). Wikipedia has a nice discussion of all the chemicals named.

]]> http://alex.golub.name/log/2007/04/30/sinivit-is-on/comment-page-1/#comment-90874 RBL Tue, 01 May 2007 14:26:30 +0000 http://alex.golub.name/log/2007/04/30/sinivit-is-on/#comment-90874 Not knowing much for a guy as dangerously-overeducated as I am, where _do_ our plastic forks come from? I had always assumed they involved various kinds of reprocessed petroleum products? Not knowing much for a guy as dangerously-overeducated as I am, where _do_ our plastic forks come from? I had always assumed they involved various kinds of reprocessed petroleum products?

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