Simplifying Microplastic via Continuous Probability Distributions for Size, Shape, and Density

Because of their diverse sizes, shapes and densities, environmental microplastics are often perceived as complex. Many studies struggle with this complexity, and either address only a part of this diversity, or present data using discrete classifications for sizes, shapes and densities. We argue that such classifications will never be fully satisfactory, as any definition using classes does not capture the essentially continuous nature of environmental microplastic. Therefore, we propose to simplify microplastics by fully defining them through a 3D probability distribution, with size, shape and density as dimensions. Besides introducing the concept, we parameterize these probability distributions, using…

• SV
  Stichting voor de Technische Wetenschappen

  Award: 13940