what is the chemical formula for plastic?
which plastic?everyone is different and there are thousands of them
Plastics cover a tremendous breadth of compounds that start of as monomers of low molecular weight carbon containing compounds. So whether it is PVC, Lexan, carbonate plastics, soda bottles, water bottles, milk jugs, etc., there will be different monomers that are used. Each of the symbols on a plastic bottle represents a different category of plastics, meaning different starting monomers. So category 1 is quite different from category 7. The link is of the most common categories, but it lists the name, not the formula.
The chemical name for plastic is polyvinyl chloride, or PVC. It has the chemical formula CH2=CHCl. The equal sign indicates a double bond. So it's two carbons double bonded to each other with one carbon that has two hydrogens and one carbon that has a chlorine and a hydrogen. That's the monomer, and it repeats to make the polymer to make a wide variety of plastics.
