History of Plastic

What is the origin of the plastic we see everywhere today?

• bulletproof vest

• billiard ball

• elephant tusk

• shampoo bottles

What is the main substance that makes up an elephant's tusk, which billiard balls were traditionally made of?

• cellulose

• ivory

• polymer

• wood

Why did billiard ball makers start looking for alternatives when making billiard balls?

• because billiard makers are not being sustainable in their use of elephant tusks

• because of environmental concerns and conservation efforts

• because excessive hunting caused elephant population to decline

• because of legal restrictions and bans on ivory trade

What material did John Wesley Hyatt invent as an alternative to ivory for billiard balls?

What were the two problems that Hyatt discovered about celluloid that couldn't solve the billiard ball problem?

Plastic refers to any materials made up of large molecules consisting of repeating subunits called

What was the name of the hardy polymer created by combining phenol and formaldehyde, which was less flammable than celluloid?

What technique involves injecting melted plastics into molds to create desired shapes?

• Blow molding

• Compression molding

• Rotational molding

• Injection molding

Write two ways that plastics were used in the United States during WWII.

True or false. Plastic packaging was designed to be single-use.

• True

• False