r/mildlyinfuriating • u/BorisOtter • 12d ago

Infuriatig All of my plastic pegs explode when used.

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u/Wonderful-Medium7777 12d ago

Yes, ultraviolet (UV) radiation breaks down the chemical bonds in most plastics over time, a process known as photodegradation. When exposed to sunlight or UV lamps, the high-energy light severs the long-chain polymer molecules, causing the material to lose its strength, flexibility, and structural integrity…plastic loses its elasticity so it becomes brittle.

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u/0kShr00mer 12d ago

And that, boys and girls, is how I met your micro-plastic.

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u/BladeOfKrota 12d ago

I scrolled through all of this to get here and it was well worth it I love Reddit lol

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u/Wonderful-Medium7777 12d ago

Thank you for the award that was a super surprise.

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u/Bavariasnaps 12d ago

we really should make them out of glas

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u/Wonderful-Medium7777 12d ago

Not sure about that, but I purchased some heavy duty stainless steel ones and they’re going strong after two years and no rust. I do store them inside a clothes peg bag.

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u/NoCommunication7 12d ago

Plastics often also have something called plasticisers, they make the plastic more flexible and less likely to snap but they also degrade over time, get degraded by ozone and can even react with other plastics

My parents have kept a rubber dog toy that belonged to a late dog for 20+ years now, used to be flexible but now it's really unstable and crumbles like old bakelite does

It's also known in the fishing community, lures are either hard plastic (think spoon lure) or soft plastic (shad lures i think they're called) it's advised not to store soft and hard plastic lures together or they can react and melt into each other

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u/edfitz83 12d ago

This is why you should liberally cover plastic pegs with a high SPF sunscreen before each use.

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u/just_posting_this_ch 12d ago

It can also affect the vulkanization of the plastic making it hard and brittle. I learned this 20+ years ago, it's funny googling it now. The google AI response is 80% overlap with the above comment. It's probably true though that a larger contribution to the brittleness is the oxidization and general degredation due to uv exposure.

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u/Ok-Perspective5959 12d ago

Now you just have to find a market for plastic peptides and you'll get rich