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

Let’s say you see a piece of wood. And a bunch of termites are chewing away at it. Each day, you can measure how much material is being eaten by the termites. You also have information on other, smaller pieces of wood that have been COMPLETELY eaten by termites so you know HOW the termites eat wood (do they eat the same amount each day? Maybe they eat a little bit at first, eat a lot later, and then slow down, or maybe they eat a small amount initially, but gradually eat more, and more each day, etc.).

Using this information, you can mathematically predict when that piece of wood is going to get completely eaten.

It’s the same thing with plastic, except instead of that piece of wood, it’s plastic, instead of termites, it’s the summation of all the natural processes that break down plastic.