Molecules: You'd better learn to live with them.
PET is an ubiquitous plastic. You've heard it referred to as "dacron", "mylar," or just "polyester."
It it produced by (among other methods) the condensation of terephthalic acid and ethylene glycol:
PET is all over, from soft drink bottles to fabrics. Perhaps the neatest use is as mylar; an oriented form of PET. Back in the fifties we stumbled across it and we haven't looked back. There aren't many applications for a plastic mylar hasn't found its way into.
Awhile ago, my friend sent me a link to the Prelinger Archives, an amazing public-domain repository of gee-whiz video from the past century. Throughout the war (and during other times), an Olympic swimmer, Henry Jamison "Jam" Handy published short instructional films. This one was created for DuPont to advertise its new-at-the-time PET film, called Mylar. From the bowling-ball test to the trapeeze artist (swinging on mylar instead of a rope, naturally), it's a slice of the American empire at its best. Educational films and informercials alike could take a lesson from these. It's about 30 minutes altogether; I hope you allocate some of your Tuesday morning slacking to enjoying these.
Part 1/2:
Part 2/2:
Back tomorrow.
Bonus points if you noticed the dish of about a liter of carbon tet just sitting out in the open!
Comments
PET is for Enviro-whiners, lounge lizards (lime green polyester), and girly chemists. Manly chemists go polyethylene naphthalate and proffer no apologies. Do you want superior modulus when hot, high Tg, and superb barrier properties? Well, do ya, punk?
Posted by: Uncle Al![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://scienceblogs.com/moleculeoftheday/nav-commenters.gif)
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October 17, 2006 11:56 AM
Does the short-tied tie cause the pants to be pulled up so high, or do the pulled-up pants cause the tie to be tied short?
Posted by: PhysioProf | October 17, 2006 12:26 PM