Measuring Microplastics: Plastic Waste Smaller than the Eye Can See

Jun 7, 2023  13:00 - 13:45

(GMT -5:00) Eastern Time

Event URL:  https://www.exploringbytheseat.com/lesson/measuring-microplastics-plastic-waste-smaller-eye-can-see/
Hosted by: Exploring By The Seat Of Your Pants

Plastic waste in the environment slowly breaks down over time, getting smaller and smaller, turning into microplastics that are smaller than the eye can see. These tiny pieces of plastic then migrate in the environment with large amounts of it ending up in the ocean and rivers. Once there, it can enter the food chain and these small plastic particles are now found in a wide range of living things, even humans. This raises many questions. How much plastic is there in our environment? What kind of plastic is it? And how does it affect living things? For small microplastic particles, these are challenging questions to answer. In this talk, I will tell you about some of the work we do to detect and quantify microplastics in our environment so we can better understand them and their impact on living things.