EETD Newsletter Vol. Most people think of polymers in terms of plastic boxes, moldings, grocery bags, and a host of other common structural uses where the mechanical properties of plastics are tuned for the purpose of support. Think of your lunch box, for example.
Polymers are also everywhere in the form of thin films.
The paper in this newsletter is coated with polymers designed to enhance the optical quality of what is probably poor quality paper. Another very common use of polymers is in insulation of electrical wire, to prevent the passage of electrical current. Paradoxically, one of the most exciting new uses of polymers is now to conduct electricity. You might think this is a new development, but the means by which you sense and even understand the words on this page involve an electrical charge moving along or through polymer membranes. All life depends on membranes that interact with charged species, generally called ions, to produce concentration gradients that give rise to the generation of voltages and thus to the action of nerve cells.