Q 01/05

Which chemist synthesised the first nylon, nylon 66, at DuPont on February 28, 1935?

A) Julian Hill

B) Wallace Carothers

C) Leo Baekeland

D) Paul Schlack

Answer · why

B) Wallace Carothers

He had been hired from Harvard in 1928 to run DuPont's pure-research polymer group; his team had already made neoprene in 1930.

Q 02/05

Which earlier cellulose-based DuPont fibre was an important precursor to nylon?

A) Rayon

B) Orlon

C) Lycra

D) Dacron

Answer · why

A) Rayon

DuPont's experience with rayon fed directly into how it developed and marketed nylon over an eleven-year programme from 1927 to 1938.

Q 03/05

Which milestone does Wikipedia credit nylon with?

A) Being the earliest plastic ever made anywhere in the world

B) Being the earliest textile fibre ever spun from petroleum

C) Being the first commercially successful synthetic thermoplastic

D) Being the earliest material patented by a female chemist

Answer · why

C) Being the first commercially successful synthetic thermoplastic

DuPont's earlier work on the cellulose-based fibre rayon was an important precursor.

Q 04/05

What was the first commercial product to use nylon, in 1938?

A) Parachute cord

B) Fishing line

C) Women's stockings

D) Toothbrush bristles

Answer · why

D) Toothbrush bristles

Stockings followed the next year at the New York World's Fair and sold 64 million pairs in their first year on the market.

Q 05/05

How many pairs of nylon stockings were sold in their first year on the market?

A) 20 million

B) 200 million

C) 64 million

D) 4 million

Answer · why

C) 64 million

They cost about one and a half times as much as silk, but rising hemlines created demand for stockings that stayed up without garters.