This document started life as notes from an installment of the History Channel's MODERN MARVELS TV series on the history of plastics. Writing it turned out to be fun. This was a little surprising, since I'd always found chemistry to be a deadly dull topic, even though I'm a science and technology type. I think the dullness has a lot to do with the way chemistry is typically taught, based on the memorization of lists of dry facts that are then promptly forgotten, and with astonishingly little attempt to relate the science to its pervasive everyday application.

Anyway, after writing this article I've picked up the habit of checking for recycling symbols on plastic objects around the house to see what they're made of. It turns out that the little plastic chair and table set I bought is made out of PP, for example.

The chair and table are an example of the utility of plastics. While they're not really meant for heavy use by any means, they are perfectly functional, durable and even, given a little open-mindedness, reasonably attractive. This at a cost less than that of a meal at a mid-priced restaurant. They would be a marvel to a citizen from several centuries ago, who would not only be astounded at the material itself and its cost, but at the vision of limitless numbers of such items "stamped out" by machines.

* Although this document follows the outline of the MODERN MARVELS installment, it is much more detailed. I fleshed it out with a few print sources:

• MOLECULES AT AN EXHIBITION by John Emsley, Oxford University Press, 1998. Emsley is a professor at the University of London and a remarkably good science writer. I have to recommend this book, since it is very entertaining and witty.

• "Plastics Get Wired" by Philip Yam, SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, July 1995, 82:87.

• "Disappearing Act" by Tim Beardsley, SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, November 1988.

I also found some useful information in the MicroSoft ENCARTA online encyclopedia's article on the subject. As usual, sources contradicted each other, for example with the show claiming that most synthetic rubber production during the war was of neoprene, while Encarta said, somewhat more convincingly, that it was GR-S.

* Revision history:

   v1.0   / 01 mar 01 / gvg     v1.0.1 / 01 jun 02 / gvg / Minor cosmetic update.    v1.0.2 / 01 jun 04 / gvg / Minor cosmetic update.    v1.0.3 / 01 oct 05 / gvg / Minor cosmetic update.