Celluloid can be made
perfectly transparent and colorless while bakelite is confined to the
range between a clear amber and an opaque brown or black. On the other
hand bakelite has the advantage in being tasteless, odorless, inert,
insoluble and non-inflammable. This last quality and its high electrical
resistance give bakelite its chief field of usefulness. Electricity was
discovered by the Greeks, who found that amber (_electron_) when rubbed
would pick up straws. This means simply that amber, like all such
resinous substances, natural or artificial, is a non-conductor or
di-electric and does not carry off and scatter the electricity collected
on the surface by the friction. Bakelite is used in its liquid form for
impregnating coils to keep the wires from shortcircuiting and in its
solid form for commutators, magnetos, switch blocks, distributors, and
all sorts of electrical apparatus for automobiles, telephones, wireless
telegraphy, electric lighting, etc.
Bakelite, however, is only one of an indefinite number of such
condensation products.
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