Polystyrene is a polymer consisting of styrene molecules covalently bonded in a long carbon chain. It is a thermoplastic polymer which means that is flexible and may be deformed by heat. It can be colorless to yellow and it has a penetrating odor. It has excellent electrical insulation properties, a relatively high resistance to water and a high refractive index.

Polystyrene was first synthesized by E. Simons of Berlin in 1839. Simons, an apothecary, distilled storax resin with a solution of sodium carbonate. The product was an oily residue that Simons called styrol because he assumed that that he had made styrene oxide. After Simons's first discovery there was a flurry of activity among the German scientific community as they tried to pin down the structure of styrol. J. Blyth and A. W. Hofman confirmed that the carbon-to-hydrogen ratio of the compound was the same as in benzene and...