Blue World

Quirky Science

E05 Plastic has become ubiquitous. Impressive, since we'd been living without them for centuries! We have grown dependent on plastics in many ways. The production industry uses it to connect the parts that make machinery: our trillions of toilet bowls need it, let alone wash machines, computers, toothbrushes, pens and traffic lights. Can you imagine that plastic was accidentally invented for the purpose of making billiard balls? Though, its inventor had used something now called guncotton, which led to a rather explosive game of pool. In the end, the first plastic was discovered when someone witnessed how Southeast Asian farmers used the poop of a little beetle, called shellac, to preserve wood. When looking for a substitute, Leo Beakeland created "Bakelite" and that substance turned out to be the first plastic. Nylon followed, the first man-made synthetic plastic, developed by Dupont to replace silk. Nylon isn't that difficult to make yourself, amazingly. During WW2 all nylon...