Plastic: Step by Step Guide Of How It Made.
Plastic goes through a multi-step process to be transformed from raw materials into the final product you see on store shelves. Here's a simplified breakdown: 1. **Raw Materials:** The starting point for most plastics is crude oil, natural gas, or even plants. These are broken down into hydrocarbon molecules, the building blocks of plastic. 2. **Refining:** Crude oil goes through a refining process to separate it into various usable fractions. One of these fractions, called naphtha, is essential for plastic production. 3. **Making Monomers:** Naphtha is further processed using a technique called cracking. This process breaks down larger hydrocarbon molecules into smaller, simpler ones called monomers, like ethylene and propylene. 4. **Polymerization:** Here's where the magic happens! Monomers are linked together in long chains, forming a polymer. This is the core plastic material. There are two main methods for polymerization: addition and condensation. 5. **Shaping the Plasti