Plastics Have Personalities: From Snow White to Queen Victoria
The characters of plastics (2024)
Plastics vary as widely as human characters, argues this essay. Polyethylene and polypropylene are Snow White—simple, pure, weak. Nylon is Arnold Schwarzenegger, strong enough for gun parts. Polycarbonate is Achilles, bulletproof but vulnerable to acetone. PVC is Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, rigid or flexible depending on plasticizers. Polyurethane is a Blade Runner android, strong but doomed to crumble. Teflon is Queen Victoria—noble and nonreactive. The author laments that all plastics get lumped together as merely 'plastic'.
With such a varied cast of characters, it’s a pity that they all get lumped together as “plastic” in common usage.