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Duroplast
Duroplast is a composite thermosetting resin plastic developed by engineer Wolfgang Barthel in 1953 in the German Democratic Republic. Its production method places it in a similar family as Formica and Bakelite. It is reinforced with fibers (typically waste fabrics from the garment industry) making it a fiber-reinforced plastic similar to fiberglass. Use and composition The German Democratic Republic regularly encountered shortages of steel and had little to no iron reserves of their own. As a result, state-owned automobile manufacturer VEB Sachsenring Automobilwerke Zwickau instead used Duroplast to produce the body shell of the Trabant. Production lasted from 1955 until just after German Reunification in 1991. A light, yet strong material, Duroplast is made of recycled material: phenol resins and cotton waste fiber reinforcement. Because it is formed in a press, it is more easily applied to volume car production than fiberglass. Disposal Duroplast is difficult to dispose of r ...
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Trabant
Trabant () is a series of B-segment, small cars produced from 1957 until 1991 by former East Germany, East German car manufacturer HQM Sachsenring GmbH, VEB Sachsenring Automobilwerke Zwickau. Four models were made: the Trabant P 50, Trabant 500, Trabant 600, Trabant 601, and the Trabant 1.1. The first model, the 500, was a relatively modern car when it was introduced. It featured detachable duroplast body panels on a galvanised steel unibody chassis, front-wheel drive, a transverse two-stroke engine, and independent suspension. Because this 1950s design remained largely unchanged until the introduction of the last model, the Trabant 1.1 in 1990, the Trabant became symbolic of the former East Germany's stagnant economy and the collapse of the Eastern Bloc in general. Called "a spark plug with a roof", 3,096,999 Trabants were produced. Older models have been sought by collectors in the United States due to their low cost and fewer restrictions on the importation of antique cars. ...
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Thermosetting Plastic
In materials science, a thermosetting polymer, often called a thermoset, is a polymer that is obtained by irreversibly hardening (" curing") a soft solid or viscous liquid prepolymer ( resin). Curing is induced by heat or suitable radiation and may be promoted by high pressure or mixing with a catalyst. Heat is not necessarily applied externally, and is often generated by the reaction of the resin with a curing agent (''catalyst'', '' hardener''). Curing results in chemical reactions that create extensive cross-linking between polymer chains to produce an infusible and insoluble polymer network. The starting material for making thermosets is usually malleable or liquid prior to curing, and is often designed to be molded into the final shape. It may also be used as an adhesive. Once hardened, a thermoset cannot be melted for reshaping, in contrast to thermoplastic polymers which are commonly produced and distributed in the form of pellets, and shaped into the final produc ...
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Scientific American Frontiers
''Scientific American Frontiers'' was an American science television program aired by PBS from 1990 to 2005. The show was a companion program to the ''Scientific American'' magazine, and primarily covered new technology and discoveries in science and medicine. The Chedd-Angier Production Company, which had recently produced '' Discover: The World of Science'', produced the show for PBS. Frontiers typically aired once every two to four weeks. Hosts The show first aired on October 1, 1990, with MIT professor Woodie Flowers hosting until the spring of 1993. Actor Alan Alda became the permanent host from the fall season of 1993 and continued until the show ended in 2005. The show was also billed as ''Alan Alda in Scientific American Frontiers''. In one segment, Alda became car sick while driving an experimental, virtual reality vehicle. In 2005, in his memoir, ''Never Have Your Dog Stuffed: and Other Things I've Learned'', Alda recalls his intestines becoming strangulated while in ...
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Products Introduced In 1953
Product may refer to: Business * Product (business), an item that can be offered to a market to satisfy the desire or need of a customer. * Product (project management), a deliverable or set of deliverables that contribute to a business solution Mathematics * Product (mathematics) Algebra * Direct product Set theory * Cartesian product of sets Group theory * Direct product of groups * Semidirect product * Product of group subsets * Wreath product * Free product * Zappa–Szép product (or knit product), a generalization of the direct and semidirect products Ring theory * Product of rings * Ideal operations, for product of ideals Linear algebra * Scalar multiplication * Matrix multiplication * Inner product, on an inner product space * Exterior product or wedge product * Multiplication of vectors: ** Dot product ** Cross product ** Seven-dimensional cross product ** Triple product, in vector calculus * Tensor product Topology * Product topology Algebraic topology * Cap prod ...
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Cotton
Cotton (), first recorded in ancient India, is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor percentages of waxes, fats, pectins, and water. Under natural conditions, the cotton bolls will increase the dispersal of the seeds. The plant is a shrub native to tropical and subtropical regions around the world, including the Americas, Africa, Egypt and India. The greatest diversity of wild cotton species is found in Mexico, followed by Australia and Africa. Cotton was independently domesticated in the Old and New Worlds. The fiber is most often spun into yarn or thread and used to make a soft, breathable, and durable textile. The use of cotton for fabric is known to date to prehistoric times; fragments of cotton fabric dated to the fifth millennium BC have been found in the Indus Valley civilizat ...
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Thermosetting Plastics
In materials science, a thermosetting polymer, often called a thermoset, is a polymer that is obtained by Reversible process (thermodynamics), irreversibly hardening ("curing (chemistry), curing") a soft solid or viscous liquid prepolymer (resin). Curing is induced by heat or suitable radiation and may be promoted by high pressure or mixing with a catalyst. Heat is not necessarily applied externally, and is often generated by the reaction of the resin with a curing agent (''catalyst'', ''hardener''). Curing results in chemical reactions that create extensive cross-linking between polymer chains to produce an wiktionary:infusible, infusible and insoluble polymer network. The starting material for making thermosets is usually malleable or liquid prior to curing, and is often designed to be Molding (process), molded into the final shape. It may also be used as an adhesive. Once hardened, a thermoset cannot be melted for reshaping, in contrast to thermoplastic polymers which are commo ...
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German Inventions
German inventions and discoveries are ideas, objects, processes or techniques Invention, invented, innovated or Discovery (observation), discovered, partially or entirely, by Germans. Often, things discovered for the first time are also called inventions and in many cases, there is no clear line between the two. Germany has been the home of many List of German inventors and discoverers, famous inventors, discoverers and engineers, including Carl von Linde, who developed the modern refrigerator. Ottomar Anschütz and the Max Skladanowsky, Skladanowsky brothers were early pioneers of History of film, film technology, while Paul Gottlieb Nipkow, Paul Nipkow and Karl Ferdinand Braun laid the foundation of the television with their Nipkow disk and cathode-ray tube (or Braun tube) respectively. Hans Geiger was the creator of the Geiger counter and Konrad Zuse built the first fully automatic digital computer (Z3 (computer), Z3) and the first commercial computer (Z4 (computer), Z4). Such ...
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Composite Materials
A composite or composite material (also composition material) is a material which is produced from two or more constituent materials. These constituent materials have notably dissimilar chemical or physical properties and are merged to create a material with properties unlike the individual elements. Within the finished structure, the individual elements remain separate and distinct, distinguishing composites from mixtures and solid solutions. Composite materials with more than one distinct layer are called ''composite laminates''. Typical engineered composite materials are made up of a binding agent forming the ''matrix'' and a Filler (materials), filler material (particulates or fibres) giving ''substance'', e.g.: * Concrete, reinforced concrete and masonry with cement, lime or Mortar (masonry), mortar (which is itself a composite material) as a binder * Composite wood such as glulam and plywood with wood glue as a binder * Reinforced plastics, such as fiberglass and fibre-rein ...
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Lemon (automobile)
In American English, a lemon is a vehicle that turns out to have several manufacturing issues affecting its safety, value or utility. Any vehicle with such severe issues may be termed a lemon, and by extension, the term may include any product with flaws too great or severe to serve its purpose. Terminology The concept of describing a highly flawed item as a "lemon" predates its use in describing cars and can be traced back to the beginning of the 20th century as a British and American slang term. "To hand someone a lemon" in British slang dated 1906 was "to pass off a sub-standard article as a good one"; in 1909, American English slang use of "lemon" represented "worthless thing, disappointment, booby prize". Its first attribution to mean a problematic car was in a Volkswagen advertisement created by Julian Koenig and Helmut Krone as part of an advertisement campaign managed by William Bernbach, all advertising executives with the firm Doyle Dane Bernbach in 1960, which was ...
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Corrugated Fiberboard
Corrugated fiberboard, corrugated cardboard, or corrugated is a type of packaging material consisting of a fluted corrugated sheet and one or two flat linerboards. It is made on "flute lamination machines" or "corrugators" and is used for making corrugated boxes. The corrugated medium sheet and the linerboard(s) are made of kraft containerboard, a paperboard material usually over thick. History Corrugated (also called pleated) paper was patented in England in 1856, and used as a liner for tall hats, but corrugated boxboard was not patented and used as a shipping material until 20 December 1871. The patent was issued to Albert Jones of New York City for single-sided (single-face) corrugated board. Jones used the corrugated board for wrapping bottles and glass lantern chimneys. The first machine for producing large quantities of corrugated board was built in 1874 by G. Smyth, and in the same year Oliver Long improved upon Jones' design by inventing corrugated board with lin ...
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Urban Myth
Urban legend (sometimes modern legend, urban myth, or simply legend) is a genre of folklore concerning stories about an unusual (usually scary) or humorous event that many people believe to be true but largely are not. These legends can be entertaining but often concern mysterious peril or troubling events, such as disappearances and strange objects or entities. Urban legends may confirm moral standards, reflect prejudices, or be a way to make sense of societal anxieties. In the past, urban legends were most often circulated orally, at gatherings and around the campfire for instance. Now, they can be spread by any media, including newspapers, mobile news apps, e-mail, and most often, social media. Some urban legends have passed through the years/decades with only minor changes, in where the time period takes place. Generic urban legends are often altered to suit regional variations, but the lesson or moral generally remains the same. Origin and structure The term "urban le ...
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