Yeah, in the case of plastic, a couple hundred years........
PVC is known to leach chlorine case over time, but at such a slow rate, it would be undetectable.
It's been suggested that flexible resins can leech chemicals (in a gaseous state) due to the use of plasticizers. In the end, this has been proven and dis-proven on both sides of the argument, but never has ridged plastics been in question regarding leeching anything unless heat was a factor in the argument.
Absolutely, if you soaked eggcrate in water for a hundred years, you might see all sorts of stuff starting to build up in the water. Over a few weeks time? Not possible. If it were, our environment would be too toxic to breathe by now...... Water approximately room temperature is not the right conditions to break down plastics.
As far as polybutylene pipe goes. It didn't fail because it degraded, it failed because of the stress of crimping the the unions. My best friends of 25 years had to have their house replumbed inside and out because of polybutylene pipe. This was explained to them in the class action suit that eventually helped financially offset their loss....[/QUOTE]
The 'rest of the story'... (hope this is interesting)
Actually, that is what the lawyers for Shell claimed. It's also what the Court decided to use as the test for who was to be awarded damages.
Polybutylene has what is known in Organic Chemistry as a tertiary carbon. These carbons can form carbo-cations (+ ion). In the case of the polybutylene being used for water transport, the developers apparently overlooked a basic tenant of Organic Chemistry. In the presence of a strong anion (- ion) such as Chlorine, the above carbo-cation is subject to attack. The negative chlorine ions (-) present in municiple water attacked the carbo-cations (+) in the polybutylene polymer. The result was that the polymer chains began to unzip. The formal term is free radical depolymerization. As there were literally millions of the polymer molecules, it took a while. They failed nevertheless. This reaction took place in the water lines made from polybutylene, and happened more frquently/faster in the 'hot' water lines than in the cold (second order kinetics). This was a second clue.
We have all seen this happen when plastic sheet is left out in the sun. Or when those old vinyl tops and plastic trim on cars craze/crack and fall apart. In those cases it's due to the UV from sunlight, but it is the same chemical mechanism.
In order to receive a claim on the polybutylene pipe, you had to have a specific type of 'crimp' at the connections. In the end, I had to replumb my house. I never got a settlement, because the 'wrong' type crimps were not present. I had multiple failures, none of which was anywhere near a connection/crimp. I doubted that I would have been successful on my own suing Shell, as they could outspend me a million $$ to my 1. So, I just took care of it for $1,600. The lawyers on both sides all got richer. Shell never admitted any wrong doing.
Nothing really is 'inert'. Some things just take longer to break down. Because we only live a few decades we like to believe some things will never change. One thing I fear will not change is some people/companies not standing by their products/actions and doing the 'right' thing when they are wrong.
Doing the 'right' thing, used to be a given. What changed?
FWIW- I set the curve in Organic Chemistry class, and worked for years in polymer research.
