Essay on invention on plastic
Answers
Plastic is material consisting of any of a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic organic compounds that are malleable and so can be molded into solid objects.
Plasticity is the general property of all materials which can deform irreversibly without breaking but, in the class of moldable polymers, this occurs to such a degree that their actual name derives from this specific ability.
Plastics are typically organic polymers of high molecular mass and often contain other substances. They are usually synthetic, most commonly derived from petrochemicals, however, an array of variants are made from renewable materials such as polylactic acid from corn or cellulosics from cotton linters.[2]
Due to their low cost, ease of manufacture, versatility, and imperviousness to water, plastics are used in a multitude of products of different scale, including paper clips and spacecraft. They have prevailed over traditional materials, such as wood, stone, horn and bone, leather, metal, glass, and ceramic, in some products previously left to natural materials.
In developed economies, about a third of plastic is used in packaging and roughly the same in buildings in applications such as piping, plumbing or vinyl siding.[3] Other uses include automobiles (up to 20% plastic[3]), furniture, and toys.[3] In the developing world, the applications of plastic may differ — 42% of India's consumption is used in packaging.[3]
Plastics have many uses in the medical field as well, with the introduction of polymer implants and other medical devices derived at least partially from plastic. The field of plastic surgery is not named for use of plastic materials, but rather the meaning of the word plasticity, with regard to the reshaping of flesh.
The world's first fully synthetic plastic was bakelite, invented in New York in 1907 by Leo Baekeland[4] who coined the term 'plastics'.[5] Many chemists have contributed to the materials science of plastics, including Nobel laureateHermann Staudinger who has been called "the father of polymer chemistry" and Herman Mark, known as "the father of polymer physics".[6]
The success and dominance of plastics starting in the early 20th century led to environmental concerns regarding its slow decomposition rate after being discarded as trash due to its composition of large molecules. Toward the end of the century, one approach to this problem was met with wide efforts toward recycling.
Etymology
The word plastic derives from the Greek πλαστικός (plastikos) meaning "capable of being shaped or molded" and, in turn, from πλαστός (plastos) meaning "molded".[7][8]
The plasticity, or malleability, of the material during manufacture allows it to be cast, pressed, or extruded into a variety of shapes, such as: films, fibers, plates, tubes, bottles, boxes, amongst many others.
The common noun plastic should not be confused with the technical adjective plastic. The adjective is applicable to any material which undergoes a plastic deformation, or permanent change of shape, when strained beyond a certain point. For example, aluminum which is stamped or forged exhibits plasticity in this sense, but is not plastic in the common sense. By contrast, some plastics will, in their finished forms, break before deforming and therefore are not plastic in the technical sense.
Structure
Most plastics contain organic polymers.[9] The vast majority of these polymers are formed from chains of carbon atoms, 'pure' or with the addition of: oxygen, nitrogen, or sulfur. The chains comprise many repeat units, formed from monomers. Each polymer chain will have several thousand repeating units.
The backbone is the part of the chain that is on the "main path", linking together a large number of repeat units.
To customize the properties of a plastic, different molecular groups "hang" from this backbone. These pendant units are usually "hung" on the monomers, before the monomers themselves are linked together to form the polymer chain. It is the structure of these side chains that influences the properties of the polymer.