"There's so much plastic in this culture that vinyl leopard skin is becoming an endangered synthetic."
Lily Tomlin, comedian and actress
Polypropylene is one of the modem world's most important plastics. It is used as an artificial fiber in carpets, upholstery, and industrial ropes, as well as in food and toiletry bottles, toys, furniture, and car components. Polymers are very common in nature because they are the major components of hair, bones, muscles, and plant fibers. In the 1920s, scientists were working on how to make polymer chains longer and heavier, and therefore more useful. One of the first breakthroughs came in England in 1931, when polyethylene—the first man-made polymer with a high molecular weight—was made. Polyethylene dominated the global plastics market, but scientists were disappointed by its material weakness. The race to develop a better plastic was on.
Italian scientist Giulio Natta (1903-1979) had been working with the German
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