Chemistry has influenced the progress of technology throughout history. Naturally through obvious technologies like television, but what about the less obvious things? What about everyday things made up of something most people consider simple? Like plastic, made from organic chemistry! Because plastic affects our lives in many ways. Although you may not believe that plastic is very complex and important to our lives today. Plastic is more complex than most people think it is. A plastic material contains a wide range of moldable synthetic or semi-synthetic organic solids. Plastics are typically high molecular mass organic polymers and are most commonly derived from petrochemicals. The elements present in plastic are carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, chlorine and sulfur. Carbon and hydrogen are the most common. Plastikos, from the Greek the word plastic, meaning capable of being molded or shaped, is derived from plastos meaning shaped. It refers to the plastic's malleability or plasticity during manufacturing. The malleability allows the plastic to be molded or pressed into a variety of shapes. These forms include films, fibers, plates, tubes, bottles, boxes, etc. The first plastic material was produced in 1850, however it was nothing like the plastic we use today. Alexander Parkes created this first material, which had a cellulose base larger than the plastic we use today. It was a mixture of camphor and alcohol with cellulose treated with nitric acid as the solvent. He publicly demonstrated his invention in 1862 at the Great International Exhibition in London as Parkesine. Although Alexander Parkes was the first to create a material close to today's plastic, he was not the only one to contribute. In......middle of paper......national materials such as chrome, metal, glass, ceramic, wood, stone, horn and bone and leather paper. Now creating and manufacturing products is much easier thanks to the invention of plastic. This is due to the low cost, versatility and ease of production of plastic. You can't go a day in your ordinary life without using plastic. Virtually everything these days contains some sort of plastic such as cars, phones, shoes, light switches, toothbrushes, spaceships, etc. Even our money is now plastic, like credit and debit cards. Plastic is very important and its production is constantly increasing all over the world. Plastic has no specific date of discovery because many forms of it have been used for centuries. However, with increasing knowledge of chemistry and improvements in technology, plastic has become a key part of today's society.