Plastics and Polymers have changed the world |
Look around you, and chances are high that a variety of the things you can see are made of plastics. There are hard plastics and soft plastics, clear ones and colorful ones, and plastics that look like leather, wood, or metal. Developed during the twentieth century, plastics have changed the world. All plastics were soft and moldable during their production - that's why they're called plastics. The Greek word plasticós means "to mold." You can form nearly any object out of plastics from bristles on toothbrushes to bulletproof vests to fibers for making textiles for clothes. Soon, tiny plastic projectiles may be used as carriers of vaccine, making it possible to swallow the vaccine instead of getting an injection! Plastics are polymers, but polymers don't have to be plastics. The way plastics are made is actually a way of imitating nature, which has created a huge number of polymers. Cellulose, the basic component of plant cell walls is a polymer, and so are all the proteins produced in your body and the proteins you eat. Another famous example of a polymer is DNA - the long molecule in the nuclei of your cells that carries all the genetic information about you. |