Plastic (overview)

Plastic is a material consisting of any of a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic organics that are malleable and can be molded into solid objects of diverse shapes. Plastics are typically organic polymers of high molecular mass, but they often contain other substances. They are usually synthetic, most commonly derived from petrochemicals, but many are partially natural. Plasticity is the general property of all materials that are able to irreversibly deform without breaking, but this occurs to such a degree with this class of moldable polymers that their name is an emphasis on this ability.

Due to their relatively low cost, ease of manufacture, versatility, and imperviousness to water, plastics were used in an enormous and expanding range of products, from paper clips to spaceships. They have already displaced many traditional materials, such as wood, stone, horn and bone, leather, paper, metal, glass, and ceramic, in most of their former uses.

History
The development of plastics has evolved from the use of natural plastic materials to the use of chemically modified, natural materials and finally to completely synthetic molecules. With the earliest plastics being in use circa 1600 BC, in Mesoamerica.

In the 1800s, as industrial chemistry developed during the Industrial Revolution, many materials were reported. The development of plastics also accelerated with Charles Goodyear's discovery of vulcanization to thermoset materials derived from natural rubber. The first man-made plastic Parkesine, was patented by Alexander Parkes in 1856. Which he unveiled at the 1862 Great International Exhibition in London.

After World War I, improvements in chemical technology led to an explosion in new forms of plastics, with mass production being commonplace by the 1940s. And so it eventually became indispensable to the modern economy, from products such as radios and gramophone records, to medical inhalers and containers of every make and use becoming more and more commonplace.

However the world's oil supplies were drying up due to its ever increasing demand. By 2051 up to 2077, plastic product production declined heavily due to conservation efforts, though still in demand for things like trinkets and decorative items, as well as leading up to the development of synthetic materials for weaponry.

Items
<!-- Note: From Oil - transclusion To Oil needed?

Oil is used to make many materials, including plastics. Combat armor used composite plastics, in conjunction with ceramics, as did the T-51b power armor and the Needler pistol and its ammunition. Factory working of clays and production of plastics would require the use of oil, not only for the factory equipment but also for the treating of clay in the forms of various chemicals. Other important plastics are Polycarbonate, which would be used in impact resistant plastics like riot shields and/or face masks. An even less suspecting, but perhaps the most crucial plastic to the Fallout story, is polytetrafluoroethylene or more commonly known as Teflon. Teflon is a chemically resistant, low friction, metal coating discovered by Roy Plunkett in 1938, 12 years before the timeline divergence. As Teflon is needed in the highly corrosive process of Refining Uranium for atomic weapons, the very sort of weapons used to destroy much of the Fallout world during the great war of 2077, this could be a contributing factor to oil depletion.

All mentions of "Plastic" in the dialogue on the Vault

Fallout miscellaneous items Fallout 2 miscellaneous items
 * Geiger counter?
 * First aid kit? weight?
 * StealthBoy?
 * Pass keys/Pass cards?
 * Junk?
 * Dusty Box of Some sort
 * Field medical first aid kit?
 * Paramedics bag?
 * PIP-Boy medical enhancer
 * PIP-Boy lingual enhancer
 * Deck of tragic cards? platic lamination?
 * Empty jet containters
 * Green memory module?
 * Magic eightball?
 * Mister Nixon Doll?
 * Navcom parts?
 * presidental access key
 * plasma transphormer?
 * red memory module?
 * stables badge id
 * vault 15 computer parts
 * yellow memory module
 * Jimmy Hats packaging
 * morningstar mine scrip?

Plastic explosives C-4 plastic explosive
 * Plastic explosives (Fallout Tactics)
 * Plastic explosives (Fallout)
 * Plastic explosives (Fallout 2)
 * Plastic explosives (Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel)

Needler pistol
 * Needler pistol (Fallout Tactics)
 * Needler pistol (Fallout 2)
 * Needler pistol (Van Buren)

Detonator
 * Loyal's detonator
 * Big Mountain Transportalponder!
 * Detonator (Fallout: New Vegas)

Bottle cap
 * Bottle cap (Fallout)
 * Bottle cap (Fallout 2)
 * Bottle cap (Fallout 3)
 * Bottle cap (Fallout: New Vegas)

Fat Man
 * Esther (GRA)

Claymore T13 antipersonnel mine

Spiked mutant armor

Slaver barracks

Legion veteran armor

Rockopolis - plastic triangle decorations The Roach King's throne - mats

Rocket (consumable)

Heart pills

Glasses Dino toy

Ghost people Cabbage Hunting shotgun - shells Mesa Top

Feuding couple

Godfrey Wadsworth Seneca Clarkson

Mac

Jet
 * Ultrajet (Fallout 3)
 * Jet (Fallout 2)
 * Jet (Fallout 3)
 * Dixon's Jet
 * Ultrajet (Fallout: New Vegas)
 * Jet (Fallout: New Vegas)

Power armor
 * Ashur's power armor
 * Tribal power armor
 * Prototype medic power armor
 * NCR salvaged power armor
 * T-45d power armor (Fallout: New Vegas)
 * Broken power armor (Fallout: New Vegas)
 * Linden's Outcast power armor

Giant ant
 * Giant ant (Fallout)
 * Giant ant (Fallout 3)
 * Giant ant (Fallout: New Vegas)

PRO ITEM.MSG (demo)

PROTO.MSG (Fallout) PRO SCEN.MSG (Fallout) PRO ITEM.MSG (Fallout)

PRO ITEM.MSG (Fallout 2) PRO SCEN.MSG (Fallout 2) PROTO.MSG (Fallout 2) NCANGBIS.MSG NcEldrid.msg HCHUSWIF.MSG NIMRBSF.MSG NiOWriSf.msg DOORCODE.MSG

Assault rifle
 * M16A1

Chair Oil Rose of Sharon Cassidy's dialogue Statesman Hotel terminal entries Golf ball Damaged garden gnome

Simple actions Simple ammunition and fuel Simple armor Simple critters Simple weapons Simple workshops Simple survival gear

Characters.txt Items.txt

Boulder design document/2 Mesa Verde design document/1 Reservation design document/2
 * Sebastian (Van Buren)

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