“Though wholly fabricated from such common raw materials as coal, water and air, nylon can be fashioned into filaments as strong as steel, as fine as the spider’s web, yet more elastic than any of the common natural fibers and possessing a beautiful luster.”

A Dupont Press Release announcing the development of nylon

Strong as steel? Yet finer and more elastic? Hyperbole? Nope, chemistry.

Polyamide (PA),  better known by its trade name nylon, was the first purely synthetic fiber, introduced by DuPont Corporation at the 1939 World’s Fair in New York City.

It took DuPont 12 years and $27 million to refine nylon and to fine tune the industrial processes for  manufacture. With such a major investment, Du Pont spared little expense to promote nylon after its introduction, creating a public sensation, or “nylon mania”. This ended abruptly in 1941 when the U.S. entered World War II. Production capacity that had been built up to produce nylon stockings switched to the manufacture of parachutes for fliers and paratroopers. After the war ended, DuPont went back to selling nylon to the public, engaging in another promotional campaign in 1946 that resulted in an even bigger craze, triggering the so called nylon riots.

Nylons remain important plastics, and not just for use in fabrics. In its bulk form it is very wear resistant, particularly if oil-impregnated, and so is used to build gears, plain bearings, and because of good heat-resistance, increasingly for under-the-hood applications in cars, and other mechanical parts.

We have reached the 14th week of the weekly, online, video series “Chemistry Now,” and chemistry has moved to industry as a source of interesting video and lessons. As we’ve written before, please view the video, try the lessons, and let us know what you think.

Photo: Joost J. Bakker IJmuiden

Through the Chemistry Now series, NSTA and NBC Learn have teamed up with the National Science Foundation (NSF) to create lessons related to common, physical objects in our world and the changes they undergo every day. The series also looks at the lives and work of scientists on the frontiers of 21st century chemistry.

Video: The 1930s invention of nylon revolutionized the global textile and materials industry. “Fabricating Fabric” outlines the molecular structure and impact of the first all-synthetic fiber. Also profiled is 21st century chemist Malika Jeffries-EL from Iowa State, who devises energy-efficient organic semiconductors and LEDs.

Middle school lesson: in the Polymer Density lesson, students compare the density of various samples of polymers with liquids of known density and use their data and observations to determine the approximate density of the different polymers.

High school lesson: through the Nylon Investigation lesson, students discuss the formation of nylon, investigate its physical properties, and research the history of a polymer.

You can use the following form to e-mail us edited versions of the lesson plans:

[contact-form 2 “ChemNow]