Why does the eraser 'eat' the plastic when put together?

When you were still in school, you must have shared many school supplies such as ruler, pen, eraser, and calculator together. And then after the summer vacation "away from the heart", until you need to use the new fire dozen when you see the computer, plastic pen ruler is deformed. Of course, at that time you just annoyed pouring in the weather so hot things melted out, or suspected someone playing badly pouring glue on your stuff.

Remarkably, this strange phenomenon is quite common when many Vietnamese netizens and the world have encountered it while still in school. The topic has quickly attracted a lot of discussion on Reddit and on Facebook groups. It was all the same question, " What magic is this?"

The question was asked by a Redditor on MXH Reddit about the strange phenomenon.

In fact, there was no magic at all, and the "killer" was present at the scene at the time. It turns out, this is actually an interesting scientific phenomenon, which is caused by a type of compound in bleach called "plasticizer". They are substances added to the material to increase the flexibility of the eraser, helping to remove the hard, crumbled and easier to use.

Many Vietnamese netizens also encountered this case.

According to Wikipedia, plasticizers are used a lot when processing polymer materials. Plasticizer content usually ranges from 20-30%.Plasticizers are usually esters of organic compounds such as DBP - dibutyl Phtalate, DOP - dioctyl phtalate, DIOP - diizooctyl phtalate, etc. Plasticizers reduce the vitreous temperature and melting point of polymers. It reduces hardness but increases the toughness and toughness of the material.

Therefore, when the eraser is placed near other plastic materials, the plasticizer in bleach will "eat meat" or melt down those materials. You can check by putting the eraser next to a rubber band, after only 2 days the elastic string will be just a plastic flexible turn. And of course, there is no magic here.

So, don't blame the weather any more, wrap your eraser more carefully or separate them.