Polystyrene
A widely used, non-biodegradable thermoplastic polymer.
Polystyrene (PS) is a synthetic polymer made from monomers of the aromatic hydrocarbon styrene. It can be solid or foamed, and general-purpose polystyrene is clear, hard, and brittle. Polystyrene is one of the most widely used plastics, with production reaching several million tonnes per year, and is used in protective packaging, containers, disposable cutlery, and phonograph records.
- chemical_formula
- (C8H8)n
- glass_transition_temperature
- ≈90 °C (atactic)
- density
- 1.05 g/cm3
- common_forms
- atactic (commercial), syndiotactic (XAREC)
Lore & Background
The company I. G.
Reader's Guide
Polystyrene is significant as one of the most widely used plastics globally, valued for its low cost, transparency, and ease of molding. Its thermoplastic nature allows it to be softened above its glass transition temperature (≈90 °C) and shaped into products ranging from disposable cutlery to insulation foam. However, its non-biodegradability under ASTM standards has led to accumulation as litter, especially in foam form, along shores and in oceans. The material's properties are determined by van der Waals attractions between polymer chains, and its atactic form is the only commercially important type. While generally chemically inert, it dissolves in organic solvents like acetone and burns incompletely. Efforts to recycle it via pyrolysis face high energy costs, and degradation by organisms such as mealworms is very slow.
Did You Know?
- Polystyrene is naturally transparent to visible light but can be colored with colorants.
- Mealworms, the larvae of the darkling beetle Tenebrio, can degrade polystyrene, albeit very slowly.
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