Like when it was first mass produced in the 1940s. I'm trying to write a paper for my engineering class.Was it more of a chemical breakthrough or can it be considered an engineering breakthrough?
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Yes, for several reasons.
Although the discovery of plastics was a chemical breakthrough, plastics wouldn't have been of any use without engineering to determine the mixtures (and temperatures, etc) that resulted in useful plastic materials, and machines which could form the plastic into the desired shapes. Without this engineering, plastics wouldn't have been useful, and therefore wouldn't have represented a "breakthrough" at all.
In a completely different sense, plastics could be considered an engineering breakthrough because the discovery of plastics allowed engineers to make new products that never existed before, such as transparent, shatter-proof containers, to make existing objects more durable, lighter, and/or less expensive, etc.
Although the discovery of plastics was a chemical breakthrough, plastics wouldn't have been of any use without engineering to determine the mixtures (and temperatures, etc) that resulted in useful plastic materials, and machines which could form the plastic into the desired shapes. Without this engineering, plastics wouldn't have been useful, and therefore wouldn't have represented a "breakthrough" at all.
In a completely different sense, plastics could be considered an engineering breakthrough because the discovery of plastics allowed engineers to make new products that never existed before, such as transparent, shatter-proof containers, to make existing objects more durable, lighter, and/or less expensive, etc.