Do you know that you can get styrofoam saucers to go with your styrofoam cups. But they aren't really cups are they? They are glasses as they have no handles. Coffee started off in metal mugs in 4500 BCE. They moved on to pottery and ceramics and shapes we find familiar. When did the leap happen to styrofoam?
German apothecary Eduard Simon discovered polystyrene in 1839 when he isolated the substance from natural resin. However, he did not know what he had discovered. It took another organic chemist named Hermann Staudinger to realize that Simon's discovery, comprised of long chains of styrene molecules, was a plastic polymer.
Dow Chemical scientist Ray McIntire invented Styrofoam as he was trying to find a flexible electrical insulator around WW II. He combined styrene with a volatile liquid - isobutylene under pressure. The result was a foam polystyrene with bubbles and was 30 times lighter than regular polystyrene. It became a Dow Chemical product in 1954. But it didn't compete as a hot drink cup until the 1960's.
Paper cups with handles had been used for coffee in the 1950's. In 1964, the convenience chain 7-Eleven became the first chain to offer fresh coffee in to-go styrofoam cups. Coffee lids appeared later as Americans were drinking their coffee as they walked. Coffee cup lids have a complicated science and technology of their own.
There are styrofoam cup pranks for 8 to 10 year olds. They are easily found next to bathroom pranks:
"There's not much to this prank, you take an ordinary Styrofoam cup and cut off the bottom, you then rub grease all over edge and place it on the table.... Check out the full video tutorial to get full instructions and to see the hilarious Demo!"
Here's the adult version for April Fool's Day:
"Cup their Cubicle - Place styrofoam cups all over the desk, floor, shelving, etc… Then pour water into each one. It will take forever for them to carefully remove each cup so it doesn’t spill!"
I took our picture of the day last weekend on the way to pick up the Easter Turkey - on First St. Louth in St. Catharines.
