Passing Through: An Introduction to Plastics
- Circa 1993

These captions and transcript were generated by a computer and may contain errors. If there are significant errors that should be corrected, please let us know by emailing digital@sciencehistory.org.
Transcript
00:00:00 Hello, I'm Stan Galt. And I'm Walt Williams. You're probably very familiar with the products
00:00:23 that we make at Rubbermaid and also probably familiar with many of the people who make them.
00:00:27 While you may know how our products help people in their homes and businesses, you may not be
00:00:34 aware of how they're made or what materials are used to make them. So we're pleased to join the
00:00:39 National Plastics Center and Museum in sponsoring this special program entitled Passing Through as
00:00:46 a service to your school. We think you'll enjoy this unique and informative look at this fascinating
00:00:53 world of plastics in which we all live.
00:01:23 Alex, you can do it. You should be getting A's. You do so well in history. Sure he does well in
00:01:49 history. He spends half his time in the dark ages. He and his buddy Conan. Your father and I both did
00:01:55 well in chemistry. You just don't pay attention. Concentrate. Concentrate? How can he concentrate
00:02:03 when he spends all his time raising goofing off with art? Room 212. Chemistry. It's too bad Conan
00:02:11 wasn't a chemist. Chemistry. Art oral. Art written.
00:02:41 It smells miserly. It must or the spell won't hold. But surely this goo will not impart the
00:03:02 powers we seek. You doubt its powers before we even begin. Why do you bother me?
00:03:07 Look what I have conjured up. What strange creature is this? Surely it is not of this world. What is
00:03:21 this? I don't believe this. Is this supposed to be some kind of a joke? He speaks a strange yet
00:03:27 recognizable tongue. It is not of this world. No beast known has skins as he is clothed in. Surely
00:03:35 this amulet is the jawbone of some beast from the dark side. Well then heathen, what do you say?
00:03:41 What brought you here? What is your purpose? I know this is a dream. This has got to be a dream.
00:03:47 I'm Alex Keane, general chemistry. I came in here to take my chemistry exam. That's right,
00:03:58 my chemistry exam. I'm dead. Exam. What is this exam? Do you mean examination? Strange
00:04:08 tongue indeed. There can be no examination. Here look about you. See you any racks,
00:04:14 any instruments of torture? Why are you subject to examination? What heresy has brought you to
00:04:20 this condition? I'm flunking chemistry. There is that strange tongue again. I'm flunking,
00:04:26 I know not. But I take his chemistry to mean alchemy. Strange how he speaks in half words.
00:04:34 Does your chemistry have to do with matter and its transformation? Matter and its transformation.
00:04:47 Yeah, yeah I guess that's what you could say chemistry is all about. What is that smell?
00:04:53 It is awful. It reminds me of something I know. What is it? It is a potion. The potion that imbues
00:05:00 the cloak of Garth with the powers he needs to travel to the lair of the beast. Methinks it
00:05:06 worthless goo like the last time. The last time was unfortunate but unavoidable. You never warned
00:05:14 that you intended to travel on the fourth night of the new moon. This time I have compensated by
00:05:19 adding precious elements as it boils. I know. What did you put in there? I know that smell.
00:05:24 I could only share such secrets with another learned one such as myself. However, since you are clearly not of this world, I will tell.
00:05:34 I have arranged all these spirits, elements, bodies, and stones, vitriols, niters, and salts. Then I add
00:05:47 bang of the serpent, and eye of the reptile, and wing of the bat, for speed of course. This smells like beer. I know nothing of this beer of which you speak. However, it is ale. I prepare to slay the beast while you spend your time imbibing the master's ale. I drink not of the ale, but add it so that the wind will always remain soft to your back as you journey.
00:06:16 I take my leave of these foolish matters. I must attend the master's council. I trust that cursed potion will be ready when I return. I leave you both to your batteries.
00:06:30 Now I know that smell. I remember from chem lab. It's formaldehyde. You made formaldehyde, and then you combined it with the cotton from his cloak, and you got plastic.
00:06:48 You act a fool. Formaldehyde indeed. A learned one would never mix animal hide with serpent fang. Know you nothing.
00:06:58 No, no. Formaldehyde isn't a hide from an animal. It's a gaseous compound of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen.
00:07:11 Come, of what strange things do you speak?
00:07:13 No, they're elements. Carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen are basic elements.
00:07:18 You know not of what you speak. Since the beginning of time, there have been but three elements. Earth, wind, and fire. What is this nonsense about carbon and such?
00:07:31 Okay, okay. It's time for Conan McKinley.
00:07:36 All right, listen to this. This is going to sound weird, but there are a lot more than just three elements.
00:07:45 Okay, come here. Look here. These are the chemical symbols for all the elements found in this plant. See? There are 103 elements, not just three.
00:07:58 You speak of things the ancients foretold.
00:08:04 Tell me about the smallest particle of these elements.
00:08:09 If we divide these elements a thousand times smaller than but a single grain of sand, do we not then find but three? Earth, wind, and fire?
00:08:20 No, no. We find atoms. And atoms are made up of protons, electrons, and neutrons.
00:08:27 I learned a lot more from those chemistry makeups than I thought.
00:08:30 This all seems to make sense in a weird sort of way.
00:08:35 See, any element can be reduced to its smallest size, the atom. And the atom of each element is made up of a different number of protons and electrons.
00:08:44 You mean there are 103 different elements, and each one has its own, what did you call it?
00:08:51 Atomic...
00:08:52 Atomic...
00:08:53 Makeup.
00:08:54 Okay. Now, based on their atomic makeup, many of these elements can be combined into what we call compounds.
00:09:01 The smallest division of a compound is a molecule, except for the few that are made up of ions.
00:09:09 For example...
00:09:11 If you take the hydrogen and the oxygen, and you take two atoms of the hydrogen, and you combine that with one atom of the oxygen, you get this. Water.
00:09:28 Do you mind?
00:09:30 Oh, no, no, no. Why?
00:09:31 This.
00:09:37 H2O.
00:09:39 H2O is the symbol for water.
00:09:44 Yes, yes, yes. Seems to make sense.
00:09:48 But, what of it? What can we...
00:09:50 Let your atoms combine and form compounds as they will. It is part of the master plan, and not in the province of mere mortal.
00:09:59 No, no. See, that's what you don't understand. Man does have control.
00:10:03 This is going to sound weird, but I think that you have just accidentally discovered a compound that the world won't learn about for over 900 years.
00:10:13 I know what I have here. It is the potion, not unlike, Qualcand, which will be used by the noble Darth when he sets out on his journey.
00:10:22 Well, you may call it Qualcand, but I'll call it plastic.
00:10:24 Now, whatever else you boil, you vaporize the alcohol of the ale into the air.
00:10:30 Then, when you added the filings from the copper armband, they heated up and acted as a catalyst, and that led to formaldehyde.
00:10:41 Then you added the poison oak and the poison ivy leaves, and the oil from the leaves combined with the formaldehyde,
00:10:49 and you got a phenolic, what we in the 20th century call a plastic.
00:10:53 Just think of it. We could change the course of history.
00:10:58 Yes, yes, yes. But what about those atoms you spoke of earlier? Are these plastic atoms we have before us?
00:11:07 No, no. These are plastic molecules, because plastic is made up of many elements that combine in a certain way.
00:11:13 Well, let's backtrack to the atoms.
00:11:16 Most plastics are made up of the carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen we spoke about earlier, and three more elements, nitrogen, sulfur, and chlorine.
00:11:26 One of these elements, carbon, has special properties.
00:11:30 Carbon atoms are able to combine with each other in large numbers and in complicated ways.
00:11:35 This means the atoms of the other elements can combine with carbon in complicated ways.
00:11:39 We call these giant molecules of carbon and other elements polymers.
00:11:43 Are these giant molecules created by your 20th century alchemist, or is a higher power responsible?
00:11:51 Many are man-made, but some, like these, are what we call natural polymers.
00:11:55 Like the cellulose that came from the cotton of Garth's cloak.
00:11:58 Others are starch, protein, and natural rubbers.
00:12:02 And what are these man-made giant molecules? How do they differ?
00:12:06 Remember, the atomic structure of each element is unique.
00:12:10 And the atomic structure is what determines an element's properties.
00:12:14 And the atomic structure of each element is what determines an element's properties.
00:12:17 Remember, the atomic structure of each element is unique.
00:12:21 And the atomic structure is what determines an element's properties.
00:12:25 The same is true of our giant molecules, polymers.
00:12:29 The form the molecules take, whether it's a long chain or a ring,
00:12:33 its size, and the elements actually combined are what determines a compound's properties.
00:12:39 Whether it's hard as saw, it's tough or brittle, or how it reacts when it's heated.
00:12:43 Of course, of course.
00:12:47 It is much like knowing when to use wing of the bat for speed,
00:12:51 or eye of the reptile for protection.
00:12:55 If you know much about these atoms and molecules of yours,
00:13:00 you can determine the properties the polymer shall have.
00:13:03 If only I had known such things when I discovered the dark liquid that shone not.
00:13:15 The dark liquid that shone not?
00:13:19 While digging for precious metals,
00:13:22 the master's diggers discovered a cursed dark liquid that shone not.
00:13:27 Its smell was that of the dragon's breath,
00:13:29 and we all knew it had seeped from the dark side.
00:13:33 The master ordered the hole closed.
00:13:36 I kept a small amount of the satanic stuff to learn of its magic.
00:13:41 I secretly brought it back to the alchemist's chamber I used to occupy.
00:13:47 And there began to trifle with that with which I should not have trifled.
00:13:52 Soon, the spirits of the dark side brought their revenge.
00:13:57 And with a great roar and much flame, consumed the entire chamber.
00:14:02 From that day to this, the master has seen to it that I work in this dingy place,
00:14:08 far removed from God-fearing civilized folk.
00:14:13 The ancients had long ago written a mysterious dark liquid.
00:14:18 The text is clear.
00:14:20 They claim it is a magic thing that serves man in hundreds of ways.
00:14:24 It can propel him through the heavens,
00:14:27 and it can heat a castle better than the wood flame in the hearth.
00:14:32 It is also written it can be used to turn the night into day.
00:14:38 But alas, the cursed foul-smelling liquid that caused my embarrassment
00:14:43 was not the wondrous liquid that had been foretold.
00:14:46 If only I had known of your atoms and molecules,
00:14:50 I could have harnessed the magical powers of the mysterious dark liquid.
00:14:54 There's nothing magical or mysterious about the dark liquid.
00:14:59 It's called petroleum or crude oil.
00:15:02 It'll be discovered in about a thousand years.
00:15:04 Plastics would be really different without it.
00:15:06 You mean I was right to consider the cursed foul-smelling liquid
00:15:10 that which had been foretold?
00:15:13 I now take my place among the learned ancients of the past.
00:15:17 Your dark liquid, what we call oil,
00:15:20 is made up of many compounds, hydrogen and carbon.
00:15:25 The same hydrogen and carbon you spoke about earlier?
00:15:27 The very same.
00:15:29 We separate out the various compounds used for making plastics
00:15:33 by a heating process we call distillation,
00:15:35 which is really what you were doing
00:15:37 when you heated the dark liquid the diggers found.
00:15:39 The only trouble is, oil is a volatile compound.
00:15:42 I know.
00:15:43 The only trouble is, oil is a volatile compound.
00:15:45 I know.
00:15:47 It explodes, like it did when you were exiled to this place.
00:15:50 It explodes, like it did when you were exiled to this place.
00:15:53 That's why we use a special heating process called...
00:16:01 fractional distillation.
00:16:04 Fractional distillation separates out the various compounds
00:16:07 that make up oil.
00:16:09 It's called refining.
00:16:11 The most important compound for plastics
00:16:14 is one we call naphtha.
00:16:16 Naphtha can be refined to ethylene,
00:16:18 which then can be formed into polyethylene.
00:16:21 Is this polyethylene called polyethylene
00:16:24 because it is a polymer,
00:16:26 one of your famous giant molecules?
00:16:28 Exactly.
00:16:30 In addition to polyethylene,
00:16:32 refined crude oil can give us other important polymers,
00:16:34 like polyvinyl chloride,
00:16:37 polyurethane,
00:16:38 polypropylene,
00:16:40 polyester,
00:16:42 polyamides,
00:16:44 and polystyrene.
00:16:46 And all of these poly...
00:16:48 polywhatevers,
00:16:50 these giant molecules,
00:16:52 are the building blocks of your 20th century plastics?
00:16:54 Oh, they're just a few of the dozens
00:16:56 of different building blocks or compounds
00:16:58 used to make plastics.
00:17:00 Most of them come from natural gas,
00:17:02 coal, or crude oil.
00:17:04 Your 20th century alchemists
00:17:05 must be much vexed
00:17:07 keeping tally of all these different plastics.
00:17:09 Well, they could be,
00:17:11 but there's a simple way to look at it.
00:17:13 See, all plastics can be divided into two groups.
00:17:15 There's...
00:17:17 I always get this mixed up.
00:17:19 There's the...
00:17:21 There's the thermoplastics,
00:17:23 and there are...
00:17:25 and the thermosetting,
00:17:27 because they set.
00:17:29 Okay, that's it.
00:17:31 There's the thermoplastics
00:17:33 and the thermosetting plastics.
00:17:35 Look here.
00:17:37 Thermoplastics go soft when you heat them
00:17:39 and harden when you cool them,
00:17:41 and thermosetting plastics
00:17:43 are set or shaped
00:17:45 when you apply heat or pressure.
00:17:47 Oh, I see.
00:17:49 Since man makes these plastics,
00:17:51 he can, by understanding their composition,
00:17:53 design the qualities he needs
00:17:55 for his projects.
00:17:57 Exactly.
00:17:59 But there's more,
00:18:01 because all these compounds or building blocks
00:18:03 have different properties.
00:18:05 Shapes and looks,
00:18:07 sheets, films,
00:18:09 tubes, fibers, pellets.
00:18:11 Some are soft and pliable,
00:18:13 others are hard and brittle
00:18:15 or hard and durable.
00:18:17 Surely a powerful spell must be cast
00:18:19 to get these powders and pellets
00:18:21 to do so many different things.
00:18:23 No, no, no spells.
00:18:25 Just manufacturing.
00:18:27 In the 20th century, we have ways
00:18:29 of making and treating plastics
00:18:31 that are really wild.
00:18:33 So man not only controls the destiny of plastics
00:18:35 for which elements to combine,
00:18:37 but he then has different ways
00:18:39 of working with that
00:18:41 which he's just created.
00:18:43 Ingenious.
00:18:45 It has a pleasant sense to it.
00:18:47 There are loads of ways
00:18:49 of manufacturing plastics.
00:18:51 Look, here's a couple.
00:18:53 Powder and granules
00:18:55 can be extruded
00:18:57 into tubes, pipes, sheets,
00:18:59 films, and threads.
00:19:01 Extruding is when the powder
00:19:03 is forced along a heated cylinder
00:19:05 and compacts it
00:19:07 into a glob of plastic.
00:19:09 A dye at the end of the cylinder
00:19:11 can form the plastic mass
00:19:13 into whatever shape you want.
00:19:15 Molding is another important way
00:19:17 of working with plastics.
00:19:19 It just means putting material
00:19:21 into a container or cavity
00:19:23 that gives you the shape you want.
00:19:25 There are dozens of ways
00:19:27 to get the material into the container
00:19:29 and there are dozens of things
00:19:31 that you can do to it
00:19:33 once it's in there.
00:19:35 Besides manufacturing,
00:19:37 there's all sorts of research
00:19:39 and engineering efforts
00:19:41 that go into plastics.
00:19:43 Why, there are people in jobs
00:19:45 you've never even heard of.
00:19:47 That's why plastics can be used
00:19:49 in the air,
00:19:51 on land,
00:19:53 water,
00:19:55 in science,
00:19:57 medicine,
00:19:59 you name it.
00:20:01 Your 20th century and its plastics
00:20:03 are so exciting.
00:20:05 Oh,
00:20:07 if only this knowledge
00:20:09 had been made known to me.
00:20:11 So many of my
00:20:13 unhappy outcomes
00:20:15 might have been but other ones.
00:20:17 The dark liquid that shone up,
00:20:20 the purple pitfall part,
00:20:22 the magic hugs.
00:20:24 We're getting off the great sound box.
00:20:27 What?
00:20:29 No good can come of this idle tale.
00:20:31 We vowed never to speak of this matter.
00:20:34 It was some time ago.
00:20:36 The master was hosting Axelrod the Significant
00:20:39 in his court.
00:20:41 Included in this court
00:20:43 were three magnificent players of the lute.
00:20:45 The master was much taken with them
00:20:47 and asked them if they could but stay on
00:20:49 after Axelrod had departed.
00:20:51 Axelrod did not agree
00:20:53 and the master was much perplexed.
00:20:55 Enter the wondrous Osgood
00:20:57 with yet another of his famous schemes.
00:20:59 He constructed a small chamber
00:21:01 and covered the chamber
00:21:03 and covered the walls
00:21:05 with one of his special elixirs.
00:21:07 He had the musicians enclosed in a small chamber
00:21:09 and directed them to play.
00:21:11 The magic potion
00:21:13 would trap the sounds onto the walls
00:21:15 so the master could enter the chamber
00:21:17 after the musicians had left
00:21:19 and listen to the lute playing
00:21:21 that had pleased himself.
00:21:23 Well, the foul-smelling elixir
00:21:25 so poisoned the playing
00:21:27 that the players turned on one another,
00:21:29 broke their lutes
00:21:31 and never played another note.
00:21:33 The master almost banished Osgood,
00:21:35 just one of the dozens
00:21:37 of great discoveries of Osgood.
00:21:42 Methinks there is much lost in your telling.
00:21:46 Cheer up.
00:21:48 You know, you weren't that far off.
00:21:52 This is the 20th century version
00:21:54 of Osgood's great sound box.
00:21:56 Must you always play the fool?
00:21:58 It must take a mighty spell
00:22:00 to get musicians small enough to fit into there.
00:22:01 No, no, you don't need the musicians.
00:22:03 Only the notes they play.
00:22:05 See, that's what was wrong with your idea,
00:22:07 but your principle was okay.
00:22:09 You captured the notes
00:22:11 because notes are nothing more than sound waves
00:22:13 and sound waves can be imprinted on.
00:22:15 What else?
00:22:17 Plastic!
00:22:19 You would have us believe that will bring us music?
00:22:21 Sure, listen.
00:22:26 It's an odd-sounding whale,
00:22:28 but from what world?
00:22:29 It's a prince.
00:22:31 It may be your prince,
00:22:33 but it's no prince that I shall ever bow to.
00:22:38 It is not totally offensive.
00:22:45 What wondrous things are your plastic
00:22:48 and their properties?
00:22:51 What wondrous properties are these great things?
00:22:54 What?
00:22:56 What are these wondrous properties?
00:22:57 Ah, well, well,
00:22:59 without knowing the moon phase
00:23:01 under which they were conjured,
00:23:03 it would be difficult to say.
00:23:05 But say, Alex,
00:23:07 are these properties part of the great 20th century secret
00:23:09 you cannot share with us?
00:23:11 No, not at all.
00:23:13 Let's see.
00:23:15 An important quality is the strength-to-weight ratio.
00:23:17 That's not into your strange 20th century tongue.
00:23:20 What is this weight-to-whatever ratio?
00:23:22 It's the strength-to-weight ratio,
00:23:24 and it's simple.
00:23:26 Now, does this offer protection during battle?
00:23:29 Of course.
00:23:31 But it weighs mightily,
00:23:33 and we soon get much fatigued when we wear it.
00:23:35 Exactly.
00:23:37 It's strong, but it weighs a lot.
00:23:39 Now, what if you had a suit
00:23:41 that offered you almost as much protection,
00:23:43 but weighs only about a tenth as much?
00:23:45 Think of it, Osgood.
00:23:47 The protection of metal
00:23:49 at a fraction of the burden.
00:23:51 Why, I could rule the joust forever.
00:23:52 I would never be defeated.
00:24:00 He thinks this strength-to-weight ratio
00:24:02 is very important to my flying carriage idea.
00:24:05 My experiment showed me
00:24:07 that in order to stay in the heavens,
00:24:10 the material used in my flying carriage
00:24:12 had to be light enough to stay up,
00:24:15 yet strong enough to withstand
00:24:17 the stresses of the wind and the flying action.
00:24:19 That's right.
00:24:20 Strength-to-weight is very important
00:24:22 to all forms of transportation,
00:24:24 and like Garth said,
00:24:26 it's very important to the military.
00:24:28 Now, plastics are also corrosion-proof.
00:24:30 What?
00:24:32 See, they won't rust like this.
00:24:35 Also, because they're inert,
00:24:37 plastics can be used to store
00:24:39 and transport foodstuffs and liquids
00:24:41 without fear of contamination.
00:24:44 They're flexible, and they're durable,
00:24:46 and they come in all sorts of colors,
00:24:47 and sizes, and what's more,
00:24:49 they can be recycled.
00:24:51 Recycled?
00:24:53 I know nothing's recycled.
00:24:55 Well, it just means that they can be used
00:24:57 over and over again in all sorts of shapes and forms.
00:24:59 Your plastics are truly remarkable substances.
00:25:02 Methinks they're as much as...
00:25:04 That's good.
00:25:06 The sands have almost run out.
00:25:08 We must attend the master.
00:25:10 Say, how do you tell time on that thing?
00:25:12 It reminds me.
00:25:14 Holy smokes, it's 2.30.
00:25:15 I'm a half hour late for my exam.
00:25:17 I'm dead.
00:25:19 Could you not leave your wondrous book of knowledge?
00:25:21 Sure, here.
00:25:23 If I mess this up, I'm grounded for the summer.
00:25:36 I'm pleasantly surprised.
00:25:38 You've given us an excellent explanation
00:25:40 of polymers and plastic processes.
00:25:42 You've obviously taken this examination seriously.
00:25:45 For a change.
00:25:47 We're very pleased.
00:25:49 Thanks. Great.
00:25:51 Don't forget your textbook.
00:25:53 You'll need it next term for organics.
00:25:55 Right.
00:26:00 If he were a part of the 20th century,
00:26:02 Osgood would be a natural for a career in plastics.
00:26:05 For more information on the many
00:26:07 exciting and challenging career opportunities
00:26:09 in the plastics industry,
00:26:11 write to the National Plastics Center and Museum,
00:26:13 Leominster, Massachusetts, 01453.