Question

After the ban on plastic bags, students of a school decided to make people aware of the harmful effects of plastic bags on the environment and Yamuna River. To make the awareness more impactful, they organised a rally by partnering with other schools and distributed paper bags to vegetable vendors, shopkeepers and departmental stores. All the students pledged not to use polythene bags in the future to save the Yamuna River.

After reading the above passage, answer the following questions:
(i) What values are shown by the students?
(ii) What are bio-degradable polymers? Give one example.
(iii) Is polythene a condensation or an addition polymer?

Answer 1

(i) From the given passage, we can conclude that the students show awareness about the environment.

(ii) A polymer that can be decomposed by microorganisms within a definite period of time, so that the polymer or its degraded product does not cause any harm to the environment, is called a bio-degradable polymer.

For example, poly-β-hydroxybutyrate-CO-β- hydroxy valerate (PHBV) is a bio-degradable aliphatic polyester.

(iii) Polythene is an addition polymer that is formed by addition of ethene molecules.