MATERIALS, TRASH AND RECYCLING
How does the chemical composition and structure of a substance determine its properties with
regard to its use, capacity for reuse, and capacity for recycling?
Environment?
o Specific information you learned
o Skills you developed related to doing science or engineering
o Interpersonal skills or technology skills you developed
o Information you learned from your peers
regard to its use, capacity for reuse, and capacity for recycling?
- The chemical composition and structure of a substance determines its properties by differing between if it is a strong substance or a weak substance. For example, metal and paper. Metal has a completely opposite chemical composition than paper and it acts completely different as well. I learned throughout this project that paper has hydrogen bonding and it makes the recycling process longer for it because they have to break the bonds that hold it together.
Environment?
- The choices we make as consumers are a huge factor for everything. I will use the discarding of materials for my first example. Discarding materials is one of the main reasons there are large amounts of greenhouse gasses in our atmosphere and why climate change is at an all-time high. Discarding materials leads to decomposition, which then means all types of things. The process of decomposition of certain objects releases all types of chemicals into the environment around it, which then overtime affects the entire ecosystem around it. Plastic is probably the object that affects the ecosystem the most because of its chemical structure and how long it takes to decompose. Even some fruits decomposition is bad for the environment and just by littering you can contribute to that.
o Specific information you learned
o Skills you developed related to doing science or engineering
o Interpersonal skills or technology skills you developed
o Information you learned from your peers
- I definitely gained a lot of information during this project. I will include what I believe is the most important things I have learned. During research for this project, I found out that the paper industry is the 3rd biggest industry contributing to air pollution. I also found out that recycling certain objects can save a lot of resources, for example, recycling one ton of paper will save 17 trees, 7,000 gallons of water, 463 gallons of oil, 3 cubic yards of landfill space, and enough energy to heat an average home for six months.