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Something I still can't wrap my head around: are microplastics like these big/visible? The definition of microplastic is plastic < 5mm in length, but how big ar

Something I still can't wrap my head around: are microplastics like these big/visible? The definition of microplastic is plastic < 5mm in length, but how big are the ones people talk about in articles like these? Is the implication that they're floating in the air and we just don't see them because they're too small? Or are they actually large enough to be visible but we somehow still get them into our bodies somehow?

adrianwaj 5y ago
Take a glass of water and shine a light through it in a dark room. Look into it and you should see tiny white filaments that look like tiny hairs floating around. I think that's what they mean. If that doesn't work, leave it for a few hours and check the top surface or bottom of the glass. You can also try with urine. Also, if you leave it for a few days, these filaments may grow... that is beyond microplastics and moving into synthetic biology.
- ostenning 5y ago
  > Also, if you leave it for a few days, these filaments may grow... that is beyond microplastics and moving into synthetic biology. Sorry, what do you mean by this? The plastic in my urine will grow into something else?
  - adrianwaj 5y ago
    Perhaps "self-assemble" would be a better word than "grow" and it wouldn't be limited to just urine and plastic. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fbioe.2020.00127/full https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fbioe.2020.0012... "Nanoscale Self-Assembly for Therapeutic Delivery" That's just one of many articles on the topic.
- red_trumpet 5y ago
  > If that doesn't work, leave it for a few hours and check the top surface or bottom of the glass Did you ever hear about dust[1]? I think that phenomenon is way older than microplastics. Though I don't know if common dust contains microplastics... [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dust https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dust
  - adrianwaj 5y ago
    Isn't dust filtered out by the lungs? What happens if you drink dust? You'd have to look for similarities between a cup of water and a cup of urine. Also, I suppose one may check for biofilm in the urine.

adrianwaj 5y ago

Take a glass of water and shine a light through it in a dark room. Look into it and you should see tiny white filaments that look like tiny hairs floating around. I think that's what they mean. If that doesn't work, leave it for a few hours and check the top surface or bottom of the glass. You can also try with urine. Also, if you leave it for a few days, these filaments may grow... that is beyond microplastics and moving into synthetic biology.

ostenning 5y ago
> Also, if you leave it for a few days, these filaments may grow... that is beyond microplastics and moving into synthetic biology. Sorry, what do you mean by this? The plastic in my urine will grow into something else?
- adrianwaj 5y ago
  Perhaps "self-assemble" would be a better word than "grow" and it wouldn't be limited to just urine and plastic. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fbioe.2020.00127/full https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fbioe.2020.0012... "Nanoscale Self-Assembly for Therapeutic Delivery" That's just one of many articles on the topic.
red_trumpet 5y ago
> If that doesn't work, leave it for a few hours and check the top surface or bottom of the glass Did you ever hear about dust[1]? I think that phenomenon is way older than microplastics. Though I don't know if common dust contains microplastics... [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dust https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dust
- adrianwaj 5y ago
  Isn't dust filtered out by the lungs? What happens if you drink dust? You'd have to look for similarities between a cup of water and a cup of urine. Also, I suppose one may check for biofilm in the urine.