If plastic was made in 1907 how do they know it may take up to 1000 years to decompose?

Question

If plastic was made in 1907 how do they know it may take up to 1000 years to decompose?

In: Chemistry

Answer 1

The same way you can figure out how long it will take to fill a 5 gallon bucket by figuring out how long it takes to fill a 1 gallon bucket. The rate doesn’t change, just the time.

If it takes 1 minute to fill 1 gallon, then it’s going to take 5 minutes to fill 5 gallons.