For millions of years, nature has basically been getting by with just a few elements from the periodic table. Carbon, calcium, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, phosphorus, silicon, sulfur, magnesium and potassium are the building blocks of almost all life on our planet (tree trunks, leaves, hairs, teeth, etc). However, to build the world of humans—including cities, health care products, railways, airplanes and their engines, computers, smartphones, and more—many more chemical elements are needed.
All plastics are polymers, but I really don’t think it’s a commonly held view that all polymers are plastics
Ah ok. That’s probably true. I was under the impression that a polymer that is solid at room temperature is a plastic.