Bakelite amazed consumers and manufacturers alike by retaining its form and shape despite high temperatures and stress. By the s, Bakelite clocks, jewelry and telephones gained in popularity due to the unique appearance. A Swiss chemist invented cellophane in as a waterproof table cloth. Cellophane food packaging gained a place in every home after DuPont introduced a truly moisture resistant version in Originally synthesized in but not commercially viable until , PVC was initially developed as a substitute for rubber and quickly became popular because of its high versatility.
Today, PVC is popular in the medical and construction industries. First discovered accidentally in by the German chemist Hans von Pechmann, polyethylene became widely commercially available in Polyethylene is the most popular plastic today with a global production of approximately 80 million tons per year. It is available in a variety of different densities and grades. Soon, nylon replaced expensive silk in military applications and clothing during World War II.
Nylon is one of the most popular and inexpensive materials for plastic components today. As you can see, most plastic materials were developed as cheaper alternatives to precious natural materials. Scientists and manufacturers continue to refine their products to meet demand, as we can see now with the advent of biodegradable and environmentally-friendly plastics.
Who knows what the future will bring? Ask me in the comments section below! Interested in learning more about plastic materials? Two spools of celluloid film made by Louis Le Prince in — The 20th century saw a revolution in plastic production: the advent of entirely synthetic plastics. Belgian chemist and clever marketeer Leo Baekeland pioneered the first fully synthetic plastic in He beat his Scottish rival, James Swinburne, to the patent office by one day.
His invention, which he would christen Bakelite , combined two chemicals, formaldehyde and phenol, under heat and pressure. Bakelite sparked a consumer boom in affordable yet highly desirable products.
It had a dark brown, wood-like appearance but could be easily mass-produced, making it ideal for bringing new design trends such as Art Deco to the masses.
These companies are still the major producers of raw material resins for the plastics industry today. These alliances were driven by the desire to make use of waste material from processing crude oil and natural gas.
The experiment failed. Instead, due to a leak of oxygen into the vessel, they found a white waxy substance in a reaction tube. This was found to be a polymer of ethylene. Its first application was insulating radar cabling during the Second World War, but consumer products soon followed, from the plastic shopping bag and Tupperware to artificial hip and knee joints.
Nylon stockings were an immediate worldwide sensation. From stockings to space suits, plastic has been used for an incredible variety of products in the modern world.
The chemical properties that have made plastic an incredibly useful and durable material also make it difficult to dispose of, with some types taking thousands—even tens of thousands—of years to degrade in landfill.
The degradation itself is an even bigger environmental issue, as the breaking down of plastics into microscopic particles pollutes our ocean, air and ecosystems. The health implications of microplastic deposits in our bodies are not yet fully known. Many of our plastic problems began in the post-war period, when plastic began to replace the more expensive paper, glass and metal materials used in throwaway items, such as consumer packaging.
Among the worst offenders, along with polyethylene shopping bags and polystyrene food containers, is the PET polyethylene terephthalate, a form of polyester drinks bottle. The PET polymer was developed specifically to contain pressurised carbonated drinks, though its popularity as a container for still beverages, above all water, has boomed in the 21st century.
The economics of mass-produced, cheap plastic products have led to a single-use culture, and today around billion PET bottles are sold every year. This figure is increasing, and the majority of these bottles end up in our oceans, degrading into microplastics.
Since the modern plastics industry relies on fossil fuels for its raw material, the production of plastic has an impact on climate change, contributing to global C02 production. For several decades, chemists have researched and developed 'green' plastics, which—like early semi-synthetic plastics—are derived from natural, biological material such as corn starch.
ICI, the British innovators of polyethylene, developed the first practical biodegradable plastic, Biopol, in , which was first used in a Wella shampoo bottle.
These materials are becoming increasingly common in single-use packaging. But biodegradable plastics are only recycled if they end up in adequately compostable waste—domestic composting is not usually up to the job.
One of the biggest barriers to plastic recycling is separation: when different polymers are mixed, the resulting material does not usually have useful properties. Even two PET items, a drinks bottle and cookie cutter, for example, may have different melting temperatures that produce an unusable sludge when combined.
The PET bottle, which has a number 1 triangular recycling code, is one of the most recycled items in the world. Clothing is one use for recycled PET polyester, initially made popular by Patagonia fleeces. Recycled plastic items have even become marketable and fashionable in the 21st century era of increasing environmental consciousness, where the original use of the material is often named on the product.
The solution to the plastic problem will be a social and political one. Rather than relying on a technological fix, we must improve recycling infrastructure—so little is recycled at present, and there is already enough plastic on the planet that we should stop producing it in vast quantities. But the key will be moving away from single-use plastic altogether. Suppliers such as supermarkets need to do more. And culturally, we should be inspired by the early plastics industry—where beautifully designed combs, radios and telephones were desirable products that you valued and kept.
Finding ways to detect and monitor polluting chemicals is key to tackling the global problem of atmospheric pollution. Delve into stories of how experimentation and innovation in chemistry affects the world around us. Javascript is disabled. Story Content What is plastic? When was plastic invented? Early plastic objects from our collection The rise of a plastics industry When did plastics become an environmental problem?
Can chemists solve the plastic problem? Find out more. What is plastic? The invention of plastic While we think of plastic as a 20th-century material, natural plastics such as horn, tortoiseshell, amber, rubber and shellac have been worked with since antiquity. The first synthetic plastics By the middle of the 19th century, in the wake of industrialised goods production, some animal-derived materials had become increasingly scarce.
Celluloid gallery.
0コメント