Plastic Bottle

Hello there. My name is Plastic, and I'm a super-shaper. I can be molded into almost any shape you can imagine. Before I came along, the world was a very different place. Imagine a time when your toys were made of wood that could splinter, or your cups were made of glass that could shatter into a hundred pieces with a single drop. Things were often made of heavy metal that was hard to carry or delicate materials that broke too easily. People wished for something that was strong like metal but light like a feather. They needed a material that they could make into anything they could dream of, without it breaking. They were looking for me, they just didn't know it yet.

My story really gets exciting because of a very clever chemist named Leo Baekeland. He had a busy laboratory in a town called Yonkers, in New York. I imagine it smelled like bubbling potions and bright ideas, with glass tubes and beakers lining all the shelves. Leo was working on a special problem. He was trying to find a new material that could cover the new electrical wires that helped power lights and machines. He needed something that wouldn't melt or catch fire. He mixed all sorts of chemicals together, hoping for a breakthrough. He would heat them up, cool them down, and watch carefully to see what happened. One special day in 1907, he mixed just the right things together in a machine he called a Bakelizer. He added heat and pressure, and suddenly—poof. I was born. I was a hard, smooth, and strong material. Leo was so proud. He decided to call me Bakelite. I was the very first plastic made entirely by a person, not from something found in nature like wood or cotton. I was a brand new creation, ready to help the world.

It was so exciting. Soon, as Bakelite, I was being shaped into all sorts of wonderful new things. I became the shiny black casing for telephones, so people could talk to each other from far away. I became the body for radios that brought music and news right into people's homes. I was strong and I didn't get too hot, so I was perfect for the job. My creation was like a big spark that gave other scientists amazing ideas. They started inventing my many plastic cousins. Some are clear like glass but won't shatter, some are soft and stretchy like a rubber band, and some can be any color of the rainbow. Together, we help make fun toys like building blocks, important tools for doctors that keep everything safe, and even parts for cars that help them go faster. I love being helpful, but it's very important that people take care of me. When you are done using something I've made, you can help by recycling it. That way, I can be melted down and shaped into something new all over again, and I can keep being a super-shaper for the world.