Week 6: Continued and moving on

I have decided to do number 4 seperately since I haven't reserched much about the certain inorganic products.

4) Where do some of the inorganic products you are using come from?
We consume a lot of inorganic products. Most of the products we consume are plastics, however much recently there have been relative concerns over plastics containing toxins. It's strange how products have been discovered but the more one research on them, then everybody uses them, then the next minute there are concerns over these products. This could be true for GMO and it was the same for trans-fat. Anyway...moving on. Here are several products: I'm referring to my old chemistry textbook:
Conceptual Chemistry. Suchocki, John. Perason Benjamin Cummings, 2007.

a) paper-paper is made from wood pulp, which is cellulose fibers but the whiteness from the paper comes from chloride.

b) A sterling silver ring-in high school, I was in a Material science class where one of the projects we did was make a sterling silver ring. Sterling silver is an alloy, which is a mixture of two metals:
silver and copper. Both metals are natural, and yes, they can be found on the periodic table.

c) Gold coins....etc-Strike it rich! its' pure gold, unfortunately I don't have any-so I either have to be a gold miner or a pirate. Gold can be found in oceans (according to the textbook), but there is no way to get gold out.

d) Plastics: Most plastics have been discovered through experimental accidents. Let's take plastic bottles. Plastic bottles are increasingly a big controversy these days. According to Energy Story: Chapter 8: Fossil Fuels-Coal, Oil and Natural Gas. http://www.energyquest.ca.gov/story/chapter08.html. Plastic bottles come from oil! The same oil, which can be used to fuel car tanks for gas. In another website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plastic, plastics were based from original plastics, such as plastics from the rubber tree. The plastics we know now are a major concern because they do not degrade as well, and there are increasing concerns of level of toxins in plastic bottles.
On NPR (national public radio) today (13, november) someone was talking about the level of lead and toxins in materials such as make-up, and plastic bottles. One caller called and said that she was concerned about the company switching to plastic bottles from glass bottles. The expertise said that switching to tap water would be the best alternative. It could be said that plastics have been used because they are lighter and less likely to break than glass bottles.

I hope this covers all most of the questions for week 6.