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

There’s a lot of patronizing answers on here but it’s a fair question.

Basically, you assume that a certain plastic decomposes by a physical and chemical process which we understand and can quantify in a mathematical model.

Then you do some algebra using the equations that describe that model and, voila, you have your answer.

Of course this assumes there are no other processes that affect decomposition that aren’t captured in the initial model.