Who Invented Plastic? Detailed answer

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Who Invented Plastic? Detailed answer

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Who Invented Plastic?

The word "plastic" means "substance capable of changing shape". The heated plastic resembles plasticine, and it can be used to make objects of various shapes, which is retained when the plastic cools. When making plastics, chemists start with a molecule. Molecules of certain substances are forced to join into chains that already have different properties compared to ordinary molecules. When molecules join in such chains, this is called polymerization.

Polymerization produces new materials. Pieces of polymers are ground into powder or granules are made from them. Dyes are added, as well as substances that give flexibility. Even 125 years ago, chemists already knew and worked with plastics. Vinyl was produced in 1838, styrene in 1839, acrylic in 1843, and polyester in 1847. But at that time there was no need for such synthetic materials, since natural materials such as wood, metals, rubber, leather and ivory. Ivory supplies ran out first. A prize was announced to the one who finds a substitute for this material.

While working on this problem, John Hight and his brother Isaiah Hightot discovered celluloid, which they patented in 1870. Celluloid has many disadvantages, but their discovery has led other chemists to continue developing other synthetic materials.

In 1907, Leo Baekeland developed the phenolic plastic, which was the first synthetic material to be produced in large quantities. Since that time, many different plastics have been created.

Author: Likum A.

Random interesting fact from the Great Encyclopedia:

Why do people collect postage stamps?

Philately or collecting stamps has been a favorite hobby of millions of people for over a hundred years. It has become so popular that in many countries a significant number of stamps and other postage signs are issued already stamped, that is, unusable. They are meant specifically for collectors! Of course, others collect stamps in order to extract some benefit from them.

However, this requires a great deal of knowledge. Many such "collectors" quickly burn out, because they have no idea about the true value of this or that postal sign. They often think that it is determined only by the time of release of the brand. Or when they see a strange, unusual stamp, they believe that a rare, and therefore, especially valuable specimen has fallen into their hands.

However, most people collect stamps solely for their own pleasure. Some collectors go to extremes and, wanting to get this or that stamp, are ready to pay huge sums of money for it. Naturally, the rarest stamps are the most valuable, but their rarity depends not only on the date of issue. A very typical confirmation of this is the following story.

In 1861, the postal service of the English colonies in South Africa discovered that old stocks of postage stamps had run out and new arrivals were not expected in the near future. Then they entered into an agreement with a small company, which undertook to print stamps until the interruptions in their supply stopped. This situation, however, did not last long, and therefore few new stamps were printed. In addition, the company's employees made a mistake by confusing colors, brands of different values. They printed 1p stamps in blue and 4p stamps in red, when they should have done the opposite!

Later, this story became widely known, and these "wrong" stamps are now a rarity, and each of the surviving copies is now worth a fortune. There are examples of another kind, when certain brands became rare by no means by accident. A well-known businessman in 1870 deliberately bought up and destroyed a huge number of certain postage stamps. Today, the surviving ones are worth several times more than other stamps produced at the same time.

Test your knowledge! Did you know...

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Random news from the Archive

The world's oceans have become deeper by 8 centimeters 10.09.2018

An international team of scientists, after analyzing satellite data, came to the conclusion that over the past 25 years, the level of the World Ocean has risen by 7,7 cm.

The level is growing at an average rate of 3,1 mm per year and is accelerating by 0,1 mm per year. This clearly confirms that the planet is getting warmer.

The authors of the study tried to assess the contribution of various circumstances to the observed picture. According to their calculations, the thermal expansion of water still plays a leading role in the picture - 42%. The melting of sea ice, as well as the glaciers of Greenland and Antarctica, account for 21%, 15% and 8%, respectively. While the role of water flow into the ocean through rivers is unclear - scientists noted that the uncertainty here is too great to draw any conclusions.

The study period was chosen based on the fact that reliable satellite data covering the entire planet have been at our disposal since 1993. Data from the TOPEX/Poseidon mission, the Argo oceanographic project, and the GRACE gravimetric satellite were used for the study.

The level of the World Ocean is considered one of the most important indicators of climate change on the planet. Others are ocean temperature and heat absorption, greenhouse gas concentrations, ocean acidity, glacier conditions, and sea ice conditions.

Seven centimeters is not much when it comes to an object of thousands of kilometers in size. But on Earth there are land areas raised above the sea by only centimeters, and there are not so few of them. First of all, the coral atolls of the Pacific Ocean come to mind, which, with a further increase in its level, can completely disappear under water. People now live on them, for them this problem is more than serious.

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