Plastics have many uses ranging from plastic sensors that can identify ear infections by changing color, plastic roof tiles that reflect sunlight when the weather is warm and absorb solar heat when the temperatures are cool to self repairing plastics in modern aircraft.
A prototype tile, developed by recent (2009) MIT graduates, is designed to turn dark in cold weather and white in warm weather as shown on the right. Black surfaces absorb heat better than white tiles, which tend to reflect the sun's heat.
The tile changes from white to black by the use of a common commercial polymer dissolved in a water solution. This solution is encapsulated between layers of glass.
When the temperature is below a certain level (which they can choose by varying the exact formulation), the polymer stays dissolved, and the black backing, on the tile shows through, absorbing the sun's heat. But when the temperature climbs, the polymer condenses to form tiny droplets, whose small sizes scatter light and thus produce a white surface, reflecting the sun's heat.
Engineers at Bristol University in the U.K. have created plastic technologies that could one-day lead to the development of airplanes that can literally fix themselves while they are still in the air.
Interestingly, the British engineers were inspired by human biology; their plastic technology emulates the healing process in living organisms.
The self-healing plastics have micro tubes of epoxy resin embedded inside fiber-reinforced polymers. When a plane stretches and cracks, the resin in these tiny tubes oozes out, hardens, and patches the crack.
Plastics have made Boeing's Dreamliner aircraft lighter and stronger and therefore environmentally friendly by using less fuel. The plane is almost entirely constructed of light but incredibly strong plastic.
Plastics have been described as environmental villains.
Discuss why plastics are considered as being environmentally damaging.
Consider the two articles above. Discuss how plastics are helping the environment?
How are plastics helping to change the nature of computers?