Bike Helmets

When I researched how my bike helmet was made, I was stunned to find out that every single component was synthetic.  That meant that each and every piece was, at its beginning, either crude oil or natural gas.  After watching this video and jogging memory for vague chemistry understanding, I realized that you could truly make anything synthetically.  Incredible! 

Another cool thing about the bike helmet manufacturing process is that the outside shell is vacuum formed, a process I have personal experience with in the Advanced Concepts Lab.  I never realized that vacuum forming is a process used in industry; until now, I had always thought of it as merely a prototyping tool.