Belgian chemist and clever marketeer Leo Baekeland pioneered the first fully synthetic plastic in 1907. He beat his Scottish rival, James Swinburne, to the patent office by one day. His invention, which he would christen Bakelite, combined two chemicals, formaldehyde and phenol, under heat and pressure.
The Belgian-born chemist and entrepreneur Leo Baekeland invented Bakelite, the first fully synthetic plastic. Colorful objects made of Bakelite—jewelry, telephones, radios, and billiard balls, to name just a few—brightened everyday life in the first half of the 20th century.
Although mostly for economic and practical reasons, plastic, which is currently overwhelming us, was originally created as a solution to maintain the availability of natural resources on earth.
Bakelite was invented by a scientist named Leo Hendrik Baekeland.
The Bakelizer, a steam pressure vessel used by Leo Hendrik Baekeland to commercialize his discovery of Bakelite - the world's first completely synthetic plastic.
The development of plastics started with natural materials that exhibited plastic properties. Modern synthetic plastics were invented around 100 years ago.
Because plastic lasts for so long, every single piece of plastic ever made still exists, and will continue existing for at least 500 years. To put that in context, if Leonardo da Vinci had drunk water from a plastic bottle when he was painting the Mona Lisa, that bottle would not have fully decomposed yet.
Before the invention of plastic, the only substances that could be molded were clays (pottery) and glass. Hardened clay and glass were used for storage, but they were heavy and brittle. Some natural substances, like tree gums and rubber, were sticky and moldable.
Plastic is a word that originally meant “pliable and easily shaped.” It only recently became a name for a category of materials called polymers. The word polymer means “of many parts,” and polymers are made of long chains of molecules.
In 1907 Leo Baekeland invented Bakelite, the first fully synthetic plastic, meaning it contained no molecules found in nature.
The plastic material can take up to 1,000 years to decompose in landfills - that's a long time compared to an 8-hour flight. Plastic is now being mentioned as the worst invention in history because of the damage it is causing to the planet.
In 1965, Sten Gustaf Thulin patented the plastic bag with the intention of saving trees. He had witnessed the devastation of forests, so he started using plastic bags and kept one folded in his back pocket for reuse2.
Baekeland combined formaldehyde with phenol, a waste product of coal, and subjected the mixture to heat. Rather than a shellac-like material, he inadvertently created a polymer that was unique in that it didn't melt under heat and stress.
In the original film, the Plastics are made of Cady Heron, Gretchen Wieners, Karen Smith, and Regina George.
The majority of plastic pollution in the ocean is caused by littering: we buy or use disposable plastic items (food wrappings, plastic bags, razors, bottles, etc.) and do not dispose of them properly, which cause them to end up in the waterways and eventually in the ocean.
Plastics are made from natural materials such as cellulose, coal, natural gas, salt and crude oil through a polymerisation or polycondensation process. Plastics are derived from natural, organic materials such as cellulose, coal, natural gas, salt and, of course, crude oil.
Belgian chemist and clever marketeer Leo Baekeland pioneered the first fully synthetic plastic in 1907. He beat his Scottish rival, James Swinburne, to the patent office by one day. His invention, which he would christen Bakelite, combined two chemicals, formaldehyde and phenol, under heat and pressure.
Definition. Plastics are a group of materials, either synthetic or naturally occurring, that may be shaped when soft and then hardened to retain the given shape.
Plastic can take anywhere from 20 to 500 years to decompose, depending on the material's structure and environmental factors such as sunlight exposure.
Without plastics, food waste would increase. Without plastics, fuel costs would increase due to the heavier vehicles. Without plastics, medical care would be very difficult if not impossible. In fact, we generate so much plastic that every hour, waste equal to 2,000 trucks is created.
Without plastic we wouldn't have the clothes we wear today. Our cars would have been different since a lot of the materials used inside are made out of plastic. Glasses, watches, bottles, outdoor furniture and camping equipment all wouldn't exist as we know them without plastic.
Before plastic bottles existed, liquids were distributed in either glass or ceramic bottles. You've all seen glass milk bottles and glass soda bottles. It's less common today but that's how liquids were packaged and distributed. Even shampoo came in glass bottles!
Plastic's devastating effect on marine mammals was first observed in the late 1970s, when scientists from the National Marine Mammal Laboratory concluded that plastic entanglement was killing up to 40,000 seals a year. Annually, this amounted to a four to six percent drop in seal population beginning in 1976.
Plastic pollution was first noticed in the ocean by scientists carrying out plankton studies in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and oceans and beaches still receive most of the attention of those studying and working to abate plastic pollution.
The Rise of Plastic
Plastic began to be mass-produced after the Second World War and then again during the 1960's and 1970's when consumers craved plastics to replace traditional materials because they are cheap, versatile, sanitary, and easy to manufacture into a variety of forms.