A lightweight, expanded polystyrene foam material used for insulation, packaging, and disposable containers. Trademark name for expanded polystyrene manufactured by Dow Chemical Company.
Coined in 1954 by Dow Chemical, combining 'styrene' (the chemical compound) with 'foam.' Styrene comes from Greek 'styrax,' a tree resin, as the compound was first isolated from storax balsam in 1839.
Despite being incredibly useful, styrofoam takes up to 500 years to decompose and has become a major environmental concern. The squeaky sound it makes when rubbed together is caused by air being forced out of tiny pockets in the foam structure.
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