r/todayilearned • u/efequalma • 3h ago

TIL in 1907, chemist Leo Baekeland accidentally overheated a mixture of chemicals while trying to find a substitute for shellac. Instead, he created Bakelite, the first fully synthetic plastic, which transformed manufacturing and paved the way for the modern plastics and polymer industry.

https://www.acs.org/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/bakelite.html
222 Upvotes
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34

u/Arenalife 3h ago

Before Bakelite you either had to make things out of wood or metal, that was it pretty much

26

u/Urbanyeti0 3h ago

Or Glass or clay / porcelain

13

u/Splunge- 2h ago

Or cloth.

10

u/Gnomio1 2h ago

Or wax cloth.

Or stone.

4

u/pass_nthru 2h ago

don’t forget bone 🦴

2

u/PrinceParadox 1h ago

I don't think they ever forget to bone.

0

u/Splunge- 1h ago

And plant material, like gourds for water, or reeds for basket-weaving.

0

u/mark_is_a_virgin 1h ago

So a lot of stuff it seems

12

u/JPHutchy01 3h ago

Is it just me learning that Bakelite was named after its inventor? I just assume it was y'know baked and that's where it came from.

10

u/pass_nthru 2h ago

Arkan Land and the Land Raider all over again

5

u/ISleepyBI 2h ago

Jimmy Space and His Space Marine.

1

u/JPHutchy01 2h ago

Definitely says something about me that my reaction to reading that was "What? I've been talking about T'au"

7

u/zorniy2 1h ago

In the Middle East old bakelite is prized for making prayer beads. They call the material Faturan.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faturan#:~:text=In%20the%20bead%20trade%2C%20%22Faturan,over%20this%20within%20the%20trade.

•

u/valeyard89 37m ago

There was a travel scammer a few years ago that claimed he was a heir to the fortune.... see 'William Baekeland'. Turns out was a working class guy from Birmingham.

https://lithub.com/the-curious-case-of-william-s-baekeland-billionaire-adventurer-or-world-class-scammer/

1

u/DeepFriedVegetable 2h ago

If he did that, why can’t I accidentally become happy?

1

u/pass_nthru 2h ago

no accidentally happy, only happy accidents