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Early Synthetic Polymers - Example Papers

Early Synthetic Polymers

Polymers have been around longer than we have. In fact, polymers are as old as life itself, as all life on earth is based on three types of polymers, namely DNA, RNA, and proteins. But this report is about some of the earliest synthetic polymers, that is, polymers made by humans, specifically, the cellulose derivatives.
The very first synthetic polymer was of course leather, a modified natural polymer, an artificially crosslinked form of the proteins found in animal skins. Leather tanning was discovered thousands of years ago, but I'm going to talk about some synthetic polymers that came a bit later. These are the cellulose derivatives. They are also derivatives of a natural polymer, ...

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reacted cellulose, in the form of cotton, with nitric acid. The result was cellulose nitrate. Cellulose nitrate, also called gun cotton, turned out to be a powerful explosive. It soon replaced common gunpowder as the explosive charge in the ammunition for rifles and artillery.
Cellulose nitrate was also used to make an early polymer containing composite material, safety glass. This was a sandwich made of a sheet of cellulose nitrate in between two layers of glass. The sheet of cellulose nitrate held the glass together when it was broken. This was great for automobile windshields. The glass would still break, but the broken pieces would stay stuck to the cellulose nitrate sheet, instead of flying into the faces of the passengers of the car during an accident.
Cellulose Acetate
When you react Cellulose with Acetic Acid we get cellulose acetate. This is used as a fiber. This fiber is used to make acetate graduation gowns. As a thermoplastic it is also used for photographic film. ...

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Early Synthetic Polymers. (2008, March 31). Retrieved January 16, 2026, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Early-Synthetic-Polymers/81390

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PAPER DETAILS

Added: 3/31/2008 08:53:35 PM
Category: Science & Nature
Type: Premium Paper
Words: 573
Pages: 3

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