Plastics & Synthetic Resins
-- Various Reports on Different Synthetic Materials --
2000 Period 2 Reports
1999 Reports:
"Acrylics" by Jeff Israel
"Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC)" by Jason Ott
"Nylon" by Erin Piateski
Plastics and synthetic resins was the fastest growing industry in the U.S. from 1948 until 1985 (it was recently surpassed by ceramics). The speed with which it has grown is mainly due to the advancement of technology as the production machines have been improved. The knowledge available has also increased dramatically, turning plastics and synthetics in a multi-billion dollar industry which began to outproduce steel (by tonnage) in 1980.
Our story begins over one hundred years ago. Our hero is John Hyatt, a poor migrant worker in the hills of California. (Until I'm given information otherwise.) In 1868, while experimenting with nitric acid, cotton, camphor and a souped-up pressure cooker, he invented cellulose nitrate. Better known as collodion, it quickly became popular as a substitute for ivory billiard balls. The increased availability of pool as a pastime for the common man is just another example of how plastics have improved our life. But that's not all! Collodion was found to be useful for dental plates, shirt cuffs, and combs. In 1927, Eastman Kodak put __________ to its first commercial use as film.
In 1909, Dr. L. Baekeland invented Bakelite. It was the first completely synthetic resin. A hard rubber, Bakelite was the result of mixing crystalline phenol, carbolic acid, and formaldehde gas in another souped-up pressure cooker.
Some of the other synthetics now in common usage are cellulose acetate, in blister packages, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), in shower curtains, and urea-formaldehyde, in lighting fixtures.
For our synthetics unit, each student made a pair of shoes using only synthetic materials.
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