Celluloid: the story of the plastic that made Hollywood

By Jordi Díaz Marcos, Profesor departamento materiales y microscopista , Universitat de Barcelona

History can sometimes take an unexpected turn. One of these curious, revolutionary twists came in the mid-19th century, when the tale of an unassuming everyday object – the billiard ball – ended in cinematic proportions.

Billiard balls were originally made of ivory, and the need to replace this scarce material led to the invention of a new, extraordinary material: celluloid. Considered the first semisynthetic plastic, this substance did more than just pave the way for future plastics – it was also vital in the earliest systems for capturing and projecting moving images.

Without…

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