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submitted 3 weeks ago by fossilesque@mander.xyz to c/science_memes@mander.xyz

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[-] dharmacurious@slrpnk.net 173 points 3 weeks ago

I remember when I found out that shit was plastic. I always assumed they were organic material of some kind, like the body scrubs with the crushed up walnut shell in it (which probably has fucking microplastic in it, too). So disgusting.

This is why we need to change how shit works. It shouldn't go: company does some shit > fall out > government steps in. It should go: company has an idea > must get permission first from environmental agencies

[-] theunknownmuncher@lemmy.world 82 points 3 weeks ago

Nah corporations really don't give a shit at all, like all chewing gum is literally just plastic too and sheds tons of microplastics into your mouth as you chew it.

https://www.vice.com/en/article/rethink-chewing-gum-habit-essentially-plastic/

Plastic is an organic material though, so your assumption was correct.

[-] moody@lemmings.world 31 points 3 weeks ago

The difference is in the definition or organic. When the average person thinks organic, they mean something that is or used to be alive. When a scientist think organic, they're talking about carbon compounds.

[-] Wrufieotnak@feddit.org 23 points 3 weeks ago

Plastic are made from fossil fuels which are from primordial plants. So still organic according to your definition. Just a few hundred million years since it was alive.

[-] T156@lemmy.world 11 points 3 weeks ago

Interesting. Always thought chewing gum was more like when you made "plastic" out of the caesin in milk.

[-] Venus_Ziegenfalle@feddit.org 15 points 3 weeks ago

You can buy chewing gum made from natural materials but it's not the norm. Most chewing gum is made from mineral oil.

[-] fristislurper@feddit.nl 4 points 3 weeks ago

Also, chemically they are identical. Plastic made of a plant is still a plastic.

[-] Venus_Ziegenfalle@feddit.org 6 points 3 weeks ago

Nah it's just rubbery dried chicle sap, no chemical refining like with oil

This is what it looks like

[-] brbposting@sh.itjust.works 3 points 3 weeks ago

I can almost taste the six seconds the flavor added to that will last!

Five minutes of microplastics or a blink of flavor? Answer might just be no gum :(

[-] Venus_Ziegenfalle@feddit.org 4 points 3 weeks ago

Yeah no idea why this is so hard to achieve but it's a very noticeable difference.

[-] captain_oni 2 points 3 weeks ago

.... I should call her

[-] fristislurper@feddit.nl 1 points 3 weeks ago

Yes really, still a polymer: it forms polyisoprene upon drying. You also find the stuff (synthesised from oil, yes, but chemically indistinguishable) in tires and condoms.

[-] ThoGot@feddit.org 1 points 3 weeks ago

That's a different plant

[-] fristislurper@feddit.nl 1 points 3 weeks ago

Does not matter. All these natural rubbers are very similar in how they work, you can find a paper on the polymerization in chicle here if you don't believe me.

[-] Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de 7 points 3 weeks ago

i assumed it was just glass or similar, maybe the same material as those moisture-absorbing silica packets

[-] jlh@lemmy.jlh.name 6 points 3 weeks ago

There are probably some with sand and other hard minerals, I think Dove had some soaps with aluminum oxide in it?

[-] Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de 11 points 3 weeks ago

i've definitely seen things like that, i think mostly "artisanal" soaps with like ground coconut shell or something, but the thing is that it tends to look like shit.

[-] FireRetardant@lemmy.world 11 points 3 weeks ago

I would much rather use that bar of soap than the mysterious liquid gels full of dyes and other junk. If natural tones are somehow gross and icky but a blood red goo that faintly smells of petro chemicals is fine then maybe we really are doomed as a species.

You go back a century or so, that bar of soap would likely have been considered a luxury product.