PVC

PVC, short for polyvinyl chloride, is one of the most widely made plastics in the world. On its own it is hard and rigid, as in drain pipes, but with additives called plasticizers it becomes soft and bendy, as in power cords. It insulates well and resists burning better than most plastics, because more than half its weight is chlorine.

It is made from vinyl chloride, a gas kept liquid under pressure. In the usual method, the liquid is stirred into water as tiny droplets along with a starter chemical that makes the molecules open their double bonds and join end to end. Each droplet becomes a grain of PVC, and the result is a white powder. That powder is mixed with stabilizers, which stop it breaking down when heated, plus plasticizers, fillers and colors, then melted and shaped.

In a TV it covers the copper in insulated wire, forms the outer jacket and molded plug of the power cord, and makes the printed sleeve shrunk around each electrolytic capacitor. Burning PVC releases hydrogen chloride, so some cable makers prefer halogen-free plastics.