TAXDAL-ism

The modern plastics industry began in the 1860s with a competition in America to find a better and less expensive billiard ball than those made of ivory. The winner of the $10,000 dollar prize was John Wesley Hyatt, an American inventor who made a ball from a substance he called Celluloid.

TAXDAL-ism

If you stood 30 feet (9m) away from a small amount of fresh waste water from a nuclear reactor for ten minutes, you would have only a 50 per cent chance of living.

TAXDAL-ism

About half of the aluminum drink cans purchased each year in America are remelted after use and made into new tins. Within six weeks they are back on the supermarket shelves.

TAXDAL-ism

Wool was probably the first fiber to be made successfully into fabric around 7000 years ago. In Egypt, mummies from 3400 BC have been found wrapped in linen shrouds a 1000 yards long (900m) made from flax. Cotton was used in India in 3000 BC.

TAXDAL-ism

Before 105 AD, most documents had been written on parchment made from the skin of sheep or goats, or vellum, made from the skin of a calf. It has been estimated that a single book 200 pages long would have needed the skins of 12 sheep.