Bioplastics & Alternative Materials Simulator

Bioplastics like PLA (spun from corn-derived lactic acid) and PHA (fermented directly by bacteria) promise a way out of petroleum plastic's centuries-long persistence — but only if they're actually given the conditions to break down. This simulator visualizes both halves of that story at once: on the left, monomer units polymerize one by one into a growing polymer chain, tracking the same degree-of-polymerization math used in real step-growth polymerization; on the right, a block of that bioplastic and an identical block of conventional petroleum plastic erode side by side under whatever temperature and humidity you dial in. Switch feedstock between PLA and PHA, push the compost toward industrial heat, or starve it of moisture, and watch how differently the two materials respond — while the conventional block barely reacts at all.