Plastics are polymers. These are large, long molecules constructed of smaller, shorter molecules called monomers. Polymers can be natural or synthetic. Natural polymers are common in animals and plants, such as with proteins in animals and carbohydrates in plants. Synthetic polymers however, are made mainly from petroleum. This is processed in an oil refinery to produce basic chemicals known as monomers. The monomers are then turned into polymers. Some polymers are turned into solid plastic materials and others into textile fibers.

Plastic was first made in 1869 when John W. Hyatt created celluloid (Dorin et al. 64). It was used to make objects such as ornaments, knife handles, cuffs, collars, and film for movies. Today, there are over seven hundred different types of plastic used to produce both hi-tech and everyday objects.

The raw material for plastics is crude oil, a complex mixture of thousands of compounds. In order to be useful, it must

Some topics in this essay:
Butadiene C4H6, John Hyatt, Introduction Plastic, Ethylene C2H4, Plastics Council, C=C Brown, Propylene C3H6, C3 C4, polymerization form, C6 C10, Ø reaction, bonds chains, thermosetting polymers, monomers polymers, basic chemicals, crude oil, Ø polymerization, density polyethylene, thermoplastic polymers, Ø polymerization form, Ø reaction oxygen, chains bonds chains, polymer molecules consist, molecules consist chains,