Bakelite Over the last 120 years, plastic has evolved into an essential material in every household. From appliances to toys to jewelry and more, plastic has become a large part of our lives. One product which has notably impacted the synthetic industry, known as Bakelite, or polyoxybenzylmethylenglycolanhydride, is an elimination reaction of phenol and formaldehyde caused by hydrochloric acid. It is a hard, insoluble material that is very durable despite its low impact-resistance. Bakelite was the earliest of plastics to greatly influence our economy and daily lives. Leo Hendrick Baekeland, a chemist born in Belgium in the Flemish city of Ghent, was the father of the most effective plastic product ever made. He studied chemistry at the University …show more content…
It was June of 1907 when he documented the discovery of this entirely synthetic resin’s power. It was the first thermosetting plastic in the world. It was not until February of 1909 that all of his experimenting concluded with the discovery of Bakelite and Baekeland announced it to the American Chemical Society. Semi-commercial production began in 1910 when his daily sales reached 180 liters. He proceeded to form an American company to produce and market his new revolutionary product. With over four hundred patents protecting Bakelite and its production, a one hundred and twenty eight acre Bakelite plant opened in Bound Brook, New Jersey in …show more content…
Although it was extremely useful, Bakelite’s biggest flaw was its color. By nature it is an amber color that was very hard to change, and even when it was changed, it made the material brittle, defeating one the product’s best characteristics, durability. This did not stop Bakelite from becoming extremely popular, however. Bakelite became immensely popular in the 1920s due to its affordability, and by the 1950s it was even more attractive to consumers because of its various colors and designs. Bakelite jewelry, radios, décor, appliances and more were commonly found in every American household. Due to Bakelite jewelry’s popularity, the production of plastics such as polyester, nylon, and spandex quickly came about. Antique Bakelite household items are now very desired by contemporary collectors and have a market of their own in today’s
The exhibition of recent stoneware vessels by Peter Voulkos at Frank Lloyd Gallery featured the sort of work on which the artist established reputation in the 1950s. The work was greeted with stunned amazement. However now it is too, but it's amazement of a different order -- the kind that comes from being in the presence of effortless artistic mastery. These astonishing vessels are truly amaising. Every ceramic artist knows that what goes into a kiln looks very different from what comes out, and although what comes out can be controlled to varying degrees, it's never certain. Uncertainty feels actively courted in Voulkos' vessels, and this embrace of chance gives them a surprisingly contradictory sense of ease. Critical to the emergence of a significant art scene in Los Angeles in the second half of the 1950s, the 75-year-old artist has lived in Northern California since 1959 and this was his only second solo show in an L.A gallery in 30 years.”These days, L.A. is recognized as a center for the production of contemporary art. But in the 1950s, the scene was slim -- few galleries and fewer museums. Despite the obscurity, a handful of solitary and determined artists broke ground here, stretching the inflexible definitions of what constitutes painting, sculpture and other media. Among these avant-gardists was Peter Voulkos.” In 1954, Voulkos was hired as chairman of the fledgling ceramics department at the L.A. County Art Institute, now Otis College of Art and Design, and during the five years that followed, he led what came to be known as the "Clay Revolution." Students like John Mason, Paul Soldner, Ken Price and Billy Al Bengston, all of whom went on to become respected artists, were among his foot soldiers in the battle to free clay from its handicraft associations.
"Paul David Buell." Max Planck Institute for the History of Science. Max Planck Institute, n.d. Web.
Bisphenol A (BPA) is a synthetic compound used worldwide in the manufacturing of plastics and epoxy resins. Derivatives of BPA are present in resin-based sealants and composites used in dentistry.1 Some of these compounds include bis-DMA (BPA dimethacrylate), bis-GMA (BPA glycidyl methacrylate) and BADGE (BPA diglycidylether).1
Antiques and Collecting Magazine 108.7 (2003): 24-30. MasterFILE Elite. Web. 29 Apr. 2014. Jordan, Gwen Hoerr.
Bibliography "Sodium Bicarbonate" American Heritage Dictionary and Electronic Thesaurus (1985) 21: 347 "Acids and Bases" Science Activities Winter 95, Vol. 31. Issue 4, p28. McCarthy, E. Jerome.
The oldest two pieces of jewelry were from Mesopotamia. The oldest, the headdress was made around 2500 BC and the second oldest, a head of a female wearing a necklace was made in the 9th- 8th century BC. Even within these two pieces of jewelry, one can tell that people began to make their jewelry more intricately with time because there are more beads shown in the necklace than in the headdress. The miniature broad collar found in Egypt made around 300 BC is much more elaborate than the two prior pieces. The pair of gold earrings found in Greece made around 300 BC do not include gemstones like the prior three examples of jewelry, but used much more complex details in the way the gold is shaped. The fifth oldest piece of jewelry, the gold armband is also quite intricate by using both gemstones and transforming the shape of the gold. The final piece of jewelry, the brooch, is the most different of all the jewelry in the set. It was made in Rome from around 100-300 AD. This piece is much different, because it is not made of gold, like all the others, but is made of copper. Even though it is not made of gold, it is much more innovative and complex than all the other jewelry because it was made by using a new process called the niello process to create a cat, the most complex figure on a piece of jewelry in the whole set (MMA).
First, new materials like metal clay, polymer clay, natural clay, ivory, bones, shells, wood, enamel, plastics and glass are being used. Second, some developments have taken place, improving the quality of artificial stones and making jewelry available to larger population segments from an economic point of view. Furthermore, the influence from other cultures and artistic forms is also changing the traditional jewelry. According to several publications, at the end of the 20th century a mix between Oriental and European techniques has been taking place. A case in point is Hawaiian jewelry which is highly fashionable and is enjoying of an increasing popularity during the last decades.
Alloys in the ornament manufacturing are a general use of gold. Because of it is...
In the beginning of the 1920s women’s jewelry had an impact throughout centuries in the living life. It was fashionable for women to wear short hair due to the requirement of working in factories and on farms during World War I, also during that time flappers became very popular for the liberation of style, they were
In the Harn museum in Gainesville there's a large drape of cloth called “Old Man’s Cloth” by sculptor and artist El Anatsui. Anatsui is a very prominent figure in the art world, he was born in Ghana, but most of his career life was in Nigeria. Anatsui’s work is recognized all over the world and recently won the Praemium Imperiale award this year. This sculptor makes use of his materials which include copper, clay, wood, and not long ago he started to experiment with discarded metal caps from liquor bottles this way his artwork is manageable, lightweight and stretchable. Basically Anatsui uses material of different procedures like cassava skimmers, train tracks, and even floating pieces of wood from the riverbank.
Enfield USA: Science Publishers, Inc. Inderfurth, K. H. (1953). The Species of the World Nylon Technology (1st ed.). McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc. A Comparison of Silk and Artificial Silk 15 Michigan State University.
In 1817, an aging Swedish chemist was pouring over his work on a late afternoon in Stockholm, Sweden. He was analyzing a strange ore named Petalite that had been procured from an island off the coast of Sweden called Utö. The ore Petalite (which is now recognized to be LiAl(Si2O5)2) had been discovered by a Brazilian scientist, José Bonifácio de Andrada e Silva towards the end of the 18th century on a visit to Sweden. This Swedish scientist, Johann August Arfvedson, detected traces of an unknown substance in his sample of Petalite. This was the first discovery of Lithium.
Over the course of the past 60 years, an increasing amount of the current population is using plastic and reusable products to try and reduce the amount of waste that is being thrown away. Bisphenol A (BPA) is used to manufacture polycarbonate #7 plastic which have help strengthen plastic bottles, food containers and epoxy resins (University of Minnesota, 2008). BPA is used in a range of products from every day plastic beverage containers and plastic dinnerware, to compact disks, impact-resistant safety equipment, automobile parts, and toys (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2013). The CDC (2013) also states that BPA epoxy resins are used in the protective linings of food cans, in dental sealants, and in other products (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2013).
These fragments absorb all the toxins that pollute waterways, contaminate soil, and sicken animals (which are then consumed). Plastic trash also absorbs organic pollutants such as BPA. They take centuries to decompose while sitting in landfills, amounting to billions of environmentally poisonous time bombs. Bisphenol A (BPA) is a chemical compound used to create polycarbonate plastic and epoxy resins. Polycarbonate plastics are found in a wide range of products, but food and drink containers are the most concerning.