NYLON Essay examples -- essays research papers

An incredible event happened in the 1930 ¡Ã‚ ¯s that has changed lives ever since. That event, the creation of nylon, has manipulated the way people dress and live their everyday lives. It even provided more employment opportunities and job improvements throughout the years. A team of DuPont researchers, led by Dr. Wallace Hume Carothers, invented the first synthetic material, nylon, in 1934 (Adams 21). They were searching for an artificial replacement for silk when they drew out an elastic string from plastic, creating nylon. There are two popular ways of creating nylon for fiber applications. One,  ¡Ã‚ °molecules with an acid (COOH) group on each end are reacted with molecules containing amine (NH ©Ãƒ ¼) groups on each end. ¡Ã‚ ± The nylon 6,6 is made in this fashion. The other common way of making nylon fibers is by polymerizing a compound containing an amine at one end and an acid at the other, to form a chain with reoccurring groups of (-NH-[CH ©Ãƒ ¼]n-CO-)x. If the x=5, the fiber is named nylon 6 (Nylon Fiber). This new invention had many better qualities and/or abilities than any other material in use already. Nylons are mostly known for their abilities to be dyed, to be unharmed by many kinds of household cleaning products or greases and oils, its rapid drying time, and above all, its silk-like appearance (The World Book). Nylons ¡Ã‚ ¯ tensile strength is greater than that of cottons, rayon, silk, and wool (Encarta). They also have characteristics that include elasticity, easy to clean,...