A brief history of plastic

Trace the history of the invention of plastic, and how the material ushered in what became known as the plastics century.

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For centuries, billiard balls were made of ivory from elephant tusks. But when excessive hunting caused elephant populations to decline, they began to look for alternatives. John Wesley Hyatt took up the challenge. In five years, he invented a new material called celluloid, which would become known as the first plastic. Trace the history of the material that ushered in the “plastics century.”

Directed by Sharon Colman.

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[TEDEd]

Join #TeamSeas! We're joining forces with audiences and creators across YouTube to clean 30 million pounds of plastic trash from our oceans, rivers and beaches, and we need your help! Visit teamseas.org to get started, or learn more about our plastic waste problem at ed.ted.com/endwaste.

[unstableunicorn]

Thank you Ted Ed for making me an even bigger nerd. It means a lot

[mr_boo.]

The plastic isn’t the problem, plastic itself is great. It’s how it’s being thrown away and over-produced that is the problem.

[rahulpatel]

TED-Ed: Plastics were made for single use.

Me: Still using the cold drink bottle that I purchased 2 years ago as my school water bottle.

XD

[pkingglazersout]

Me: So plastic how were you born
Plastic: *Listen, It’s complicated*

[nino.a]

"Ted Head Shampoo"

-TedEd 2020

[rohanpotukuchi]

To think it all started with a





Me looking at my billiard ball: YOU started this.

[TheDhammaHub]

What difference 60 years can make is truly astonishing. Plastic went from nowhere to everywhere.

[niulagoo]

Thank you, I’ve been wondering how plastic is made

[aaryanrs]

I want to use Ted Ed Shampoo 😉
I hope I'll get more intelligent 😂

[enocestrada]

Everyone: Oh let's use plastic to make things cheaper!

Presidents: W A R

[ThePopushi]

Ah yes.

But my *favorite* plastics are the girls of North Shore High.

[aryaveer]

stephen hawking:"a brief history of time"
ted ed: "a brief history of plastic"
people in comments: "a brief history of kardashians

[jadeuwu]

random bacteria: eats plastic
the Kardashians: *Nervous sweating*

[VR_Wizard]

0:18 The elephant animation is so cute.🥰

[.Koreans.American]

I learn so much more from TED than from schools.

[QuestionEverythingButWHY]

"What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make."
--Dr Jane Goodall

[Jowjoejoe]

When you create stuff to protect elephants, but ends up killing more

[ajinkyaghule]

I WILL PAY FOR TED-HEAD! LETS MAKE IT A THING!!

[area]

A brief history of this video—posted 11 seconds ago
- within 5 mins, we’ve reached 1.2K views
- 10 mins in - 3.6K
- 15 mins - 5.6K
- 35 mins - 11K
(I’ll add more as time goes on)
Please spread awareness about plastic waste and its deep-rooted origins! Reduce, recycle, reuse. The Earth needs all the help it can get :<