A British chemist and inventor Alexander Parkes is credited with the creation of the first man made plastic which he termed "Parkensine". In Alexanders youth he was apprenticed to a brass founders and eventually joined Elkingotn, Mason & Co. as a manager in the casting department. His interest in the rubber industry led him to the invention of the cellulose nitrate polymer generally accepted as the first ever synthetically produced plastic. Parkensine, however, was not economically successful due to its high flammability. Since then the plastic industry has evolved to produce materials responsible for the advancement of countless technologies while maintaining a low cost of production.
http://inventors.about.com/library/weekly/aa050298.htm
Plastics could quiet possibly be one the most important substances in our lives. If you could imagine the world without plastic it would be pretty bleak. We wouldn't have nearly the electronics we do today. We wouldn't have the cars we do either. Our society has become extremely dependent on our use of plastics. You could not go to the grocery store today and not leave with a product that wasn't somehow produced or packaged without a plastic product. Luckily we don't still have flammable plastic today either, and that is thanks to all the scientist around that world that worked to develop the best plastic products they could. Plastic is also a great creative media for artists, particularly because there is so much of it and it is easy to find and manipulate.
ReplyDeleteParks invented a substance that is used in almost everything we have today. Whether is made out of plastic or paged in plastic it is used. Unfortunately, many accidents have happen due to plastics being flammable, but advancement has allowed new research to go into making non-flammable plastic. This also allowed for the technology world to evolve. Mostly all technology devices made have plastic in them. Since technology products generate heat, the tools have become much safer to use. Plastic is a major source for artist as well, the instruments are made with plastic, and even records are sold in plastic devices. I would say plastic has evolved in our world and with so created an industry reliable on plastic!
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