ABSTRACT
The adjective plastic is derived from the Greek plastikos, meaning easily shaped or deformed. It was rst introduced into the English language in the nineteenth century to describe the behavior of the recently discovered cellulose nitrate that behaved like clay when mixed with solvents. The noun “plastics” is often dened in dictionaries as a group of synthetic resinous or other substances that can be molded into any form. From a technical viewpoint, plastics is a generic term for macromolecular organic compounds obtained from molecules with a lower molecular weight (MW) or by chemical alteration of natural macromolecular compounds. At some stage of their manufacture, they can be formed to shape by ‰ow, aided in many cases by heat and pressure. The term plastics can be used as a noun, singular or plural, and as an adjective.
