4 ms·

Plastics are inherently unstable over time, and that instability is exacerbated by temperature swings, and exposure to UV light. This is an issue in the art wor

Plastics are inherently unstable over time, and that instability is exacerbated by temperature swings, and exposure to UV light. This is an issue in the art world that’s become a conservation nightmare. https://www.getty.edu/conservation/publications_resources/newsletters/pdf/v29n1.pdf https://www.getty.edu/conservation/publications_resources/ne... I’d be shocked if LEGO were uniquely stable, which means that over time you’re going to see leaching or plasticer and other elements of the plastic. Really the question is how much, over what time period, and how harmful it is to humans.imdont have the answer to that, and I accept that the answer could be anything from “essentially harmless” to “gay frogs” or anything in between.

Pulcinella 8y ago
Most materials used in everyday are also not thermodynamically stable. The only ones I can think of off the top of my head are stone (assuming your rain isn’t acidic), table salt, and baking soda. Most useful materials are kinetically stable (e.g plastic, wood, paper) but will break down over a long enough timeframe. </pedantic>
- GW150914 8y ago
  That’s a good point, and not too pedantic I think. There have been concerns about leaching from pressure treated woods, conservation of paper products which leach acidic compounds are an issue, and I may have given the impression that plastic was somehow unusually ephemeral when it’s far from unique. Thanks for the kind correction.
  - Pulcinella 8y ago
    :) Kinetic stability vs. Thermodynamic stability is one of the reasons why it’s so difficult to make a chemistry lab simulator without just handcoding thousands of reactions. Books like The CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics have all the information needed to simulate a reaction thermodynamically, but not realistically. For example, thermodynamically hydrogen gas should explode on contact with oxygen, but that doesn’t generally happen in real life without something like a spark. You need the rate constant for a reaction and you can only get that through bench research or really advanced quantum chemistry simulations. That rate constant only applies to that reaction so you need a different one for methane and oxygen for example. By that point your back to just handcoding individual reactions.
edoceo 8y ago
True, Lego degrades in the sun. Source: I have left Lego outside, in the sun for many weeks. The effect is also visible at every Legoland.

Pulcinella 8y ago

Most materials used in everyday are also not thermodynamically stable. The only ones I can think of off the top of my head are stone (assuming your rain isn’t acidic), table salt, and baking soda. Most useful materials are kinetically stable (e.g plastic, wood, paper) but will break down over a long enough timeframe. </pedantic>

GW150914 8y ago
That’s a good point, and not too pedantic I think. There have been concerns about leaching from pressure treated woods, conservation of paper products which leach acidic compounds are an issue, and I may have given the impression that plastic was somehow unusually ephemeral when it’s far from unique. Thanks for the kind correction.
- Pulcinella 8y ago
  :) Kinetic stability vs. Thermodynamic stability is one of the reasons why it’s so difficult to make a chemistry lab simulator without just handcoding thousands of reactions. Books like The CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics have all the information needed to simulate a reaction thermodynamically, but not realistically. For example, thermodynamically hydrogen gas should explode on contact with oxygen, but that doesn’t generally happen in real life without something like a spark. You need the rate constant for a reaction and you can only get that through bench research or really advanced quantum chemistry simulations. That rate constant only applies to that reaction so you need a different one for methane and oxygen for example. By that point your back to just handcoding individual reactions.

edoceo 8y ago

True, Lego degrades in the sun. Source: I have left Lego outside, in the sun for many weeks. The effect is also visible at every Legoland.