A Plastic That Conducts Electricity?
Plastics usually stop electricity in its tracks, but scientists have figured out a way to keep the electrons flowing. Hosted by: Hank Green ---------- Support SciShow by becoming a patron...
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You’ve probably noticed that electrical wires are often wrapped in plastic, or that electricians use gloves and tools with plastic coatings. That’s because they don’t want to get electrocuted, which is smart. Plastics prevent fatal zaps by blocking the flow of electrons. They are good insulators. And for decades, that’s all scientists thought plastics could be, until a mistake in a lab forever changed the future of electronics. It was 1974, and a Japanese chemist named Hideki Shirakawa was testing new ways of making plastics. When someone in his lab accidentally added 1,000 times more of one thing to the reaction than normal, the result was bizarre: a silvery, shiny foil that was a plastic, but looked a lot like metal. Shirakawa showed his strange p...
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You’ve probably noticed that electrical wires are often wrapped in plastic, or that electricians use gloves and tools with plastic coatings. That’s because they don’t want to get electrocuted, which is smart. Plastics prevent fatal zaps by blocking the flow of electrons. They are good insulators. And for decades, that’s all scientists thought plastics could be, until a mistake in a lab forever changed the future of electronics. It was 1974, and a Japanese chemist named Hideki Shirakawa was testing new ways of making plastics. When someone in his lab accidentally added 1,000 times more of one thing to the reaction than normal, the result was bizarre: a silvery, shiny foil that was a plastic, but looked a lot like metal. Shirakawa showed his strange p...
