Hula hoops

Schwarcz, Joe. Radar, Hula Hoops, and Playful Pigs 67 Digestible Commentaries on the Fascinating Chemistry of Everyday Life. New York Henry Holt Co., 2002. 

Copying the tubes used to make the hula hoop, plastic tubing for many varied application such as connecting air conditioners and ice makers, took off. Today, the three widely used synthetic polymers are LLDPE, HDPE, and PP. New catalysts and production procedures has allowed the physical properties and varied uses of these big three synthetic polymers to be continually increased. 

The purpose of this work — and of Radar, Hula Hoops and Playful Pigs, my previous attempt at demystifying science — is to provide a few scientific glimpses into the workings of our complex world. My hope is that by offering explanations for a variety of common phenomena I can help the reader develop a feel for how the scientific method functions, and at the same time, lay down a solid foundation for critical thinking. 

Ideally, these two approaches, bottom up and top down, will mesh and reinforce each other. Suppose, however, they do not—what then In most cases, I would choose the bottom up results. There is no substitute for deliberate, creative, carefully executed field marketing research. In the case of engineering plastics, however, there can be opportunities which all the field work in the world will not reveal—witnfess the example of the hula hoop. When these two approaches yield widely differing results, it is a clear sign that further work is necessary. 

A Whole New Approach to Chain-Growth Polymers How the Hula Hoop Saved the Day From Polyethylene to Polypropylene— Stereoregularity Other Significant Advances Chain-Growth Copolymers Conducting Polymers... 

In the usa plastics moulded the happy-go-lucky American dream with the fluorescently pigmented Hula Hoops, Frisbees and Big Wheels of the... 

Piggy-back development is no operation hula hoop, here today and gone tomorrow. Each traffic man must carefully study his particular movements to ascertain which plan will meet his needs and reduce transportation costs. All four plans have the immediate advantage of very little loss and damaged freight as compared to the usual box car shipment. In fact, in the not too distant future the box car may be relegated to shipments of a few low-rated bulk commodities. 

Phillips Petroleum had difficulty maintaining quality control in the early years of making polyethylene. As a result, it produced large quantities of the product that could not be sold for commercial, industrial, or household use. The company faced financial ruin. Fortu nately, a new toy came into existence in the mid 1950s, the hula hoop. A hula hoop is simply a ring of plastic that... 

Mid l 950s Wham-0 creates the hula-hoop-a ring of plastic that is made with low-grade polyethylene. 

Schwarcz, J. (1999). Radar, hula hoops and Playful pigs. Montreal McGill. 

Praise for Radar, Hula Hoops, and Playful Pigs ... 

High-density polyethylene (HOPE) is composed of linear chains that are closely packed. This type of polymer is rigid, hard, and tough. Milk jugs, toys, and TV cabinets are made from HOPE. The Hula-Hoop was one of the first products ever made from this form of polyethylene. 

Polyethylene (Eric Fawcett and Reginald Gibson) Fawcett and Gibson of Imperial Ghemical Industries in London accidentally discover polyethylene. Hula hoops and Tupperware are just two of the products made with the substance. 

This seems a reasonable course, since many objects have only been widely available in plastic versions ping-pong balls, hula hoops, beach balls, mobile phones, ballpoint pens, CDs, telephones, condoms. To put plastic in front of any of these creates a tautology because they are plastic objects by definition. While this chapter concentrates on encounters with palpable plastics in the present and moments when we might wish to discard individual objects, some classes of plastic objects have come and gone cassette tapes, celluloid collars, cigarette holders and many others have suffered what amounts to species death . 

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