Have you ever wondered how plastic is made? It’s a really interesting question! You might have heard about plastic in the news, especially about how it can be harmful to the environment. Sometimes, plastic waste ends up in the ocean, and it doesn’t break down easily. This can be bad for animals because they might eat it or get tangled in it. But did you know that plastic also has a good side?
To understand why plastic is important, let’s go back in time. More than a hundred years ago, plastic didn’t exist! People used materials from nature like bone, wood, and even turtle shells to make things. One special material was ivory, which comes from elephant tusks. But using these materials was not good for animals like elephants and turtles because it meant hunting them.
Scientists and inventors wanted to find a new material that wouldn’t harm animals. They worked hard and discovered plastic! Plastic could be made from leftover parts of oil, which is also used to make gasoline. By mixing these parts with a strong substance called acid, they created plastic. This meant no more hunting animals for materials, and it helped save many elephants and turtles.
Plastic can be both good and bad, depending on how we use it. When plastic is littered, it stays around for a long time and can harm wildlife. But the same quality of being tough and long-lasting makes plastic very useful in other ways. For example, plastic is used to protect undersea cables that help us connect with people all over the world through phones and the internet. A smart engineer named Walter Lincoln Hawkins invented a special kind of plastic for this purpose.
So, plastic is made by combining parts of oil with acid. It’s a strong and durable material that can be helpful or harmful, depending on how we use it. It’s important for us to think about how we use plastic and make sure we use it wisely. Thanks for learning with me today, and remember to stay curious about the world around you!
Plastic Hunt: Go on a “plastic hunt” around your home or classroom. Look for different items made of plastic. Make a list of these items and think about why plastic is used for each one. Discuss with your friends or family how these items could be made from other materials. What would be the advantages or disadvantages of using those materials instead of plastic?
Plastic Recycling Art: Collect clean plastic items that are no longer needed, like bottle caps, containers, or straws. Use these items to create a piece of art or a useful object. This could be a sculpture, a picture frame, or even a small plant pot. Think about how recycling plastic can help the environment and share your creation with your class.
Question Time: Discuss with your family or friends: “What would happen if plastic was never invented?” Think about the positive and negative impacts on animals, people, and the environment. Write down your thoughts and share them with your class. How might our world look different today?
**Sanitized Transcript:**
(phone ringing) – Hi, Doug.
– Hi, Muang. – I have a question for you: how is plastic made?
– Ooh, that is a really good question. These days, plastic is getting mentioned a lot in the news, and not in a good way. You might have seen videos of plastic waste floating in parts of the ocean, and maybe you’ve heard that plastic doesn’t break down very easily. So if plastic gets littered or tossed on the ground, it’s often there to stay for a long time. Not only does that look unattractive, but it can also harm wildlife that mistakes it for food or gets tangled in it. You might wonder, if plastic seems to cause all these problems, what good is plastic? Like, why do we even have plastic at all? Before I say anything more, now would be a good time to pause the video and discuss. Why do you think we have plastic?
Okay, you ready? Well, there’s not just a bad side to plastic; there’s a whole other side of plastic that you might not know about, what I like to call the good side of plastic. To understand what’s good about plastic, it’s helpful to know why plastic was invented in the first place. You see, a long time ago, more than a hundred years ago, plastic wasn’t even a material that things could be made out of. It hadn’t been invented yet. That means any of the things in your life today that are made out of plastic—think about it—everything from combs to eyeglasses to the toys you grew up with, all of these used to be made of different materials, materials we had to gather from nature. Materials like bone, wood, and antlers, even turtle shell. One material that was especially valued was ivory, which comes from the tusks of elephants.
People eventually realized that if they kept making things out of materials like ivory and turtle shell, there would be no more elephants or turtles left. Scientists and inventors stepped up to try to solve the problem. They experimented to develop a new material, one that would be just as long-lasting and useful as ivory or turtle shell, but one that could be made without having to hunt animals. And they discovered it: plastic. One of the great things about plastic was that lots of it could be easily made using leftover parts from oil, the stuff we use to make gasoline. By combining those leftover parts with a strong substance known as acid, that’s how most plastic is made. No animals have to be hunted to make plastic. In fact, in a very real way, the invention of plastic helped to save many elephants and turtles.
But wait a second, how can a material that was once good and helpful not only to us but to animals also be the same material that people are saying poses a harm to animals when it’s littered? The answer to this is that plastic, like many things in life, isn’t always good or always bad. It totally depends on the situation, and it’s up to each of us to really think about the ways we’re using it. For example, when plastic waste is littered, the fact that it lasts a really long time actually becomes a negative aspect, since now the litter won’t break down easily. It looks unattractive, and it can harm wildlife. But this same property of plastic—being tough and long-lasting—is exactly what makes it an incredibly helpful material in other situations.
For example, in order for us to have telephone and internet connections between all the different places on Earth, people had to lay down giant metal cables along the bottom of the ocean. But the saltwater of the ocean would damage the metal cables. A brilliant engineer named Walter Lincoln Hawkins invented an especially tough, long-lasting type of plastic that could be used to coat and protect the undersea cables. Thanks to this use of plastic, people all around the world can communicate with one another on telephones and computers. And that’s just one of thousands of different ways that people use the good side of plastic.
So in summary, plastic is created by combining leftover parts of oil with a strong substance known as acid. Plastic is a tough and long-lasting material that can be good or bad, depending on the situation. That’s all for this week’s question. Thanks, Muang, for asking it. Now, for the next episode, I reached into my question jar and picked out three questions submitted to me that I’m thinking about answering. When this video is done playing, you’ll get to vote on one. You can choose from: who invented desks? How do magicians trick us? Or, why does it sometimes hail when it rains? So submit your vote when the video’s over; I want to hear from all of you watching. There are mysteries all around us. Stay curious, and see you next week.
