"Green" Plastic Toys

Today's plastics require oil to make but with the recent surge in oil prices and the negative externalities that result from burning oil, make making plastics a costly action to the wallet and environment. Using all-natural materials that can be found in most homes, milk and vinegar, one can make their own mold-able plastic to fit any needs including making toys.

Fun fact: During World War II, the American army used the same plastic to make windows for their bombers.

Step 1: Get materials

Get some stuff:

milk, vinegar, a strainer, a heat-safe container, a mold and food coloring

Comments

[chicopluma]

does it rot or start to stink with the time ?

[bytowneboy]

This is a dried, unripened, cheese. Nothing is really polymerized... is it.

PaneerPaneer

Is cheese a polymer?

*scraches head and walks away*

[xenobiologista]

Proteins are polymers (the monomers are amino acids) so, yes.

[mimiu78]

but what's the main difference between protein polymers and plastic polymers?

[Eye Poker]

Borrowed from
http://www.answers.com/topic/casein?cat=health

Sci-Tech Encyclopedia: Casein
The principal protein fraction of cows' milk. It accounts for about 80% of the protein content and is present in concentrations of 2.5–3.2%. Casein is a mixed complex of phosphoproteins existing in milk as colloidally dispersed micelles 50 to 600 nanometers in diameter. Caseins can be separated from the whey proteins of cows' milk by gel filtration, high-speed centrifugation, salting-out with appropriate concentrations of neutral salts, acid precipitation at pH 4.3–4.6, and coagulation with rennet (or other proteolytic enzymes), and as a coprecipitate with whey proteins. The first three methods yield preparations in essentially their native micellar state, but are impractical for commercial exploitation. Thus, commercial caseins are produced by methods more amenable to industrial practices. See also Micelle.

The early production of casein isolates was stimulated by their application in industrial products such as paper, glue, paint, and plastics. These applications have been replaced by petroleum-based polymers. Thus the emphasis has shifted to their utilization in food systems, where they add enhanced nutritional and functional characteristics. They are widely used in the formulation of comminuted meat products, coffee whitener, processed cereal products, bakery products, and cheese analogs. See also Cheese; Food manufacturing; Milk.

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[bytowneboy]

Sweet! Thanks.

[starberry_lov3r]

and I have a question does it biodegrade?

[mimiu78]

yes it does. :)

[starberry_lov3r]

how come when I did it it became rotten milk later on and stink up the place...

[Deltaforce2555]

What exactly is the plastic, I don't know much about chemistry but I wanna say its vinegars reaction with calcium?

[slappingpenguins]

The plastic is casein. And there is not much chemical reaction taking place, but rather the heat and the acetic acid in the vinegar denature the proteins in the milk and cause it to percipitate.

[xenobiologista]

Try lining the sieve with a cheesecloth or a thin rag at step 4, you'll probably recover more solids.

[mweston]

Cool, that could probably be useful for something other than a toy mold thingy.

[zany artist]

Very cool!

[austin]

this brings back memories I did this for the science fair back in 2nd grade.

[zjharva]

ahem: http://www.instructables.com/id/Moooooo-Glue/
Nice instructable though! Its a good use of the milk and vinegar thing.I never knew you could use it as plastic!

[Patrik]

Two more, for good measure:

Homemade Plastic
Make plastic out of milk

[slappingpenguins]

Oh cool, I didn't know you could make glue out of it.

[macrumpton]

Milk has also been used for centuries to create paint for both paintings and for housepainting:
Milk paint