THE HISTORY OF PLASTICS
In the present scenario, plastic is the most important material; without plastic, we can’t think our life becomes easy. Now drinking water and medical equipment are made of plastic. It’s more useful in our life, which has become easy, but as of now, with the misuse of plastic products, humans are creating a polluted, dangerous zone.
I am trying to open up some mistakes in what we are following.
At first, knew some common knowledge about history of plastic
INVENTION OF PLASTICS
Plastics are a wide range of synthetic or semisynthetic materials composed primarily of polymers. Their defining characteristic, plasticity, allows them to be molded, extruded, or pressed into a diverse range of solid forms. This adaptability, combined with a wide range of other properties such as low weight, durability, flexibility, chemical resistance, low toxicity, and low-cost production, has led to their widespread use around the world. While most plastics are produced from natural gas and petroleum, a growing minority are produced from renewable resources like polylactic acid.
Between 1950 and 2017, 9.2 billion metric tons of plastic are estimated to have been made, with more than half of this amount being produced since 2004. In 2023 alone, preliminary figures indicate that over 400 million metric tons of plastic were produced worldwide. If global trends in plastic demand continue, it is projected that annual global plastic production will exceed 1.3 billion tons by 2060. The primary uses for plastic include packaging, which makes up about 40% of its usage, and building and construction, which makes up about 20% of its usage
The world’s first fully synthetic plastic was Bakelite, invented in New York in 1907 by Leo Baekeland, who coined the term “plastics.” Dozens of different types of plastics are produced today, such as polyethylene, which is widely used in product packaging, and polyvinyl chloride (PVC), used in construction and pipes because of its strength and durability. Many chemists have contributed to the materials science of plastics, including Nobel laureate Hermann Staudinger, who has been called “the father of polymer chemistry,” and Herman Mark, known as “the father of polymer physics.”
