Friday, August 2, 2013

Magic Molecule by Christopher Chapman & Hugh O'Connor,



Man, the '60's, huh?

Throw in the fact that these filmmakers are Canadian, and you have an absolutely perfect recipe for weirdness.

This video - available online thanks to the National Film Board of Canada - certainly is weird and dated, but it makes for a pretty impressive overview of what the dreams of a plastic world used to be.

Nowadays the world of plastics tends to be viewed with a far more environmentally-suspicious lens than the one through which our intrepid polymerist gazes at 2:00, but in the 1960's, everything was coming up plastics.

I do believe that at 5:40, we have a composite.

And I just love the opening poem...
It's a fine phenolic, acrylic day.

The cellusoics are in good fettle, and there's a hint of melamine in the air.

Yes, everything is perfectly synthetic, for this is the bright, new world of plastic products.
...and the cool shorts outfit at 1:28...

...and the beautiful world of 7:04...

...and the Legos from 7:20 through 7:40...

...and the boat of 7:50...

Hey, what happened to the old dude at 7:50? Where'd he go?

PS: Thanks to Kristin for the find here. As always, if you find a great materials science video, feel free to send it my way.

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