The Science Book

140

PLASTIC IS NOT

WHAT I MEANT

TO INVENT

LEO BAEKELAND (1863–1944)

T

he discovery of synthetic

plastics in the 19th century

opened the way to the

creation of a huge range of solid

materials unlike anything that

had ever been known before—

light, noncorroding, and capable

of being molded into almost any

imaginable shape. While plastics

can occur naturally, all of the

plastics now in widespread use are

entirely synthetic. In 1907, Belgian-

born American inventor Leo

Baekeland created one of the first

commercially successful plastics,

now known as Bakelite.

What gives plastic its special

quality is the shape of its

molecules. With only a few

exceptions, plastics are made

from long organic molecules, known

as polymers, strung together

from many smaller molecules, or

monomers. A few polymers occur

naturally, such as cellulose, the

main woody substance in plants.

IN CONTEXT

BRANCH

Chemistry

BEFORE

1839 Berlin apothecary

Eduard Simon distils styrol

resin from the Turkish sweet-

gum tree. A century later, this

is developed into polystyrene

by the German IG Farben

company.

1862 Alexander Parkes

develops the first synthetic

plastic, Parkesine.

1869 American John Hyatt

creates celluloid, which is

soon used instead of ivory

to make billiard balls.

AFTER

1933 British chemists Eric

Fawcett and Reginald Gibson

of the ICI company create the

first practical polythene.

1954 Italian Giulio Natta

and German Karl Rehn

independently invent

polypropylene, now the

most widely used plastic.

This artificial polymer

can be used to produce

strong, hard moldable

materials, called plastics.

It is possible to make

artificial shellac by

treating coal tar.

Materials made from long

molecules called polymers

have special qualities.

Shellac, a resin used in

varnish, is a naturally

occurring polymer.

Plastic is not what I meant to invent.