BobRingReflections

This blog is about the fascinating history of plastics. After an introduction, I will cover the first semi-synthetic (based on natural substances) plastics, then the development of synthetic (no natural content) plastics, applications of plastics today, growing concerns about plastics, and finally the future of plastics.   I will list my principal sources at the end.   Introduction Plastics  is a word that comes from the Greek language, meaning “pliable and easily shaped.”   It only recently became a name for a category of materials called polymers, meaning “of many parts,” and made of long chains of molecules.   Polymers abound in nature.   Cellulose, the material that makes up the cell walls of plants, is a very common natural polymer. While we think of plastic as a 20 th -century material, natural plastics such as animal horn, tortoiseshell, amber, rubber, and shellac have been worked with since antiquity.   In 1600 BC, Mesoamericans used natural rubber for balls, and