Did You Know?

Here are some interesting facts that everybody wants to know. OK, maybe just me.

Who Invented Styrofoam?
German drugstore operator Eduard Simon discovered polystyrene in 1839, isolating the substance from the natural product resin.

In 1922, German, organic chemist Hermann Staudinger published his theories on polymers, stating that natural rubbers were made up of long repetitive chains of monomers that gave rubber its elasticity. He also wrote that the materials manufactured by the thermal processing of styrene were similar to rubber. In 1953, Staudinger won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry.

Styrofoam was invented in 1954 by Ray McIntire of Dow Chemical Co. He combined styrene with isobutylene, a volatile liquid, under pressure. The result was foam polystyrene, 30 times lighter than regular polystyrene.

Styrofoam® is a trademarked name, the real name of the product is foamed polystyrene.
Source: The Detroit News

One Down, Two to Go
The U.S. State Department had placed a $25 million bounty on Abu Musab al-Zarqawi’s head – the same reward offered for information leading to the apprehension of al Qaeda kingpin Osama bin Laden and his chief lieutenant Ayman al-Zawahiri.
Source: The FBI

Kids and Meth
How extensive a problem is methamphetamine abuse in the United States?

In 2004, 6.2 percent of high school seniors reported that they had used methamphetamine at some point in their lifetimes.
Source: The National Institute of Drug Abuse