Why Plastic Sheds Dangerous Fragments

Researchers from Columbia Engineering discovered how nano plastics form. The study published in Nature Communications details their findings.

In a new study, scientists have delineated the molecular process that causes these small pieces to break off in such large quantities. Since hitting the market 75 years ago, plastic has become ubiquitous — and so, presumably, have nanoplastics. As it turns out, the qualities that make plastic strong and flexible also make it prone to forming nanoplastics – this is true for 75-80% of all plastics used, which are termed as semicrystalline polymers in the community. Sanat Kumar, Michael Bykhovsky and Charo Gonzalez-Bykhovsky Professor of Chemical Engineering at Columbia Engineering, led the research effort.

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