10 Plastics
This webpage gives the basic outline for a weekly module. The full module with videos, readings, homework assignments, and other resources is available in Canvas by contacting the instructor.
Introduction
This module focuses on plastics, a ubiquitous material on the consumer market. Belonging to the class of materials known as polymers, plastics were the first materials synthesized from other materials/chemicals. Because of their range of properties including flexibility, their relatively low processing temperatures and their low cost polymers filled a critical need in the materials that have impacted society. During this module, students focus on the story of Tupperware products and American advertising history, considering how plastics can acquire social meanings that shape the ways we use and promote this material. In the postwar period, Earl Tupper brought a new kind of polyethylene product to the U.S. consumer market. Students will brainstorm strategies for marketing polymer-based bicycle helmets today, taking into account our global economy.
Module Objectives
Students will:
- identify the properties of polymers
- identify the properties of biopolymers
- discover the uses and applications of polymers both historically and in the future
- examine the way that individual and social perceptions shape the use of a material
- discover how the properties of a material rely on the interests of their users
Lecture Development Resources
Day 1
Material science professor presents background on plastics. This lecture will discuss the class of materials we call polymers, including a review of their properties, how they were discovered and some of their history. Classroom demos could include stretching polymers or making nylon.
Day 2
Guest professor presents Fantastic Plastics in Postwar America: Earl Tupper, Brownie Wise, and Materials Marketing.
Day 3
Social and cultural systems such as language, gender, aesthetics, home design, and advertising shapes the ways we perceive the intrinsic physical properties of materials.
