6 ms·

A Brief History of Parafilm

49 points by ctoth 4y ago

gumby 4y ago
An indispensable product and, as the article mentions, source of much speculation and argument, whether as work avoidance or something to think/talk about during downtime. When I think of how different labs are equipped and what’s in common, parafilm is one of those I imagine almost every one will have.
AlotOfReading 4y ago
The fact that Parafilm hasn't been commercialized for the consumer market has always baffled me. It's so much better than consumer cling wraps and the bulk cost from supply houses is within a couple multiples of consumer alternatives, so the price wouldn't even be that far off. Slap some environmental branding on a big roll and it should be able to compete directly with glad et al at the grocery store.
- ghaff 4y ago
  I totally forgot about that. I interned in a couple chemistry labs in college. Now that I think about it, a product like Glad Press 'N Seal isn't quite Parafilm but it's a big improvement over the conventional cling wrap for a lot of purposes. Not sure how Parafilm costs compare--although prices probably aren't a great proxy given probable margin differences.
- zabzonk 4y ago
  i'm not sure i would want to eat something that had been wrapped in parafilm - ex microbiology lab tech speaking.
- synaesthesisx 4y ago
  Parafilm is permeable to gases, and generally you don’t want to enable oxidization with most foods. A modified, coated version of it would be a great consumer alternative however.
  - earthling8118 4y ago
    Without this it is nearly DOA for this use case. I almost always use plastic wrap for the specific reason of preventing gas transfer
Metacelsus 4y ago
This is Metacelsus (co-author). Parafilm is really quite fascinating. If anyone knows what the 'M' stands for, I'd be very excited to learn!
- kurthr 4y ago
  I think that the M stands for Medium (or perhaps moisture controlling?), because there is an eXtreme version X that is thicker and for harsher environments. I only know of it, because it was more difficult to use (stretch) if someone bought the wrong stuff. We used it in chem/clean rooms for decades since it doesn't develop static charge (as badly as cling wrap). Neither deals well with high temperatures or solvents.
  - Metacelsus 4y ago
    Hmm, I've never heard of Parafilm X and it doesn't show up in any searches. Do you have a link to it?
    - kurthr 4y ago
      Interesting! Well, it was over 20 years ago so I guess things have changed (or my memory is just fallible). I've found (only M on Aldrich) some floral stuff and a history(1) that claims nobody knows what M stands for. It looks like the product (but not the factory that makes it in Wisconsin?) has been sold a bunch of times since the mid 90s to early 00s I last remember. 1) yours! Damn, lost in the mists of time. It's still used by SEM eBeam folks so I'll ask around the old coworkers.
      - fuzzfactor 4y ago
        This has all the signs of a loss of corporate knowledge. I don't think anybody is going to find type X any more, and you may very well personally have a better recollection of its previous existence than anybody working at the factory any more. You never know. This factory has changed hands so many times over the decades, always as a small part of a larger portfolio since it was acquired the first time, there's no way it could have been as prosperous as possible the whole time. I can only imagine there was some executive, maybe even an engineer who knew everything about every product, who had to cut back production of everything but the single best-selling type for financial reasons at some point. Maybe back when M, X, and who knows how many other types, had a well-known meaning across the factory. And all knowledgable parties involved now long retired decades ago, and the company/factory changing hands so much with all kinds of shareholders, none of them capable of making more of it than it already was.
s0rce 4y ago
You can also get Purple parafilm.
fortran77 4y ago
We used to use it in the college darkroom as a cheaper alternative to "Kodak Dry Mount Tissue" As far as I can tell, it was the same stuff. https://www.ebay.com/itm/325517709920?mkevt=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=711-53200-19255-0&campid=5338722076&customid=&toolid=10050 https://www.ebay.com/itm/325517709920?mkevt=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=...
ggm 4y ago
It would seem to me to be not just "lab cheese" but possibly the best cheese wrapper for ordinary mortals who can't get that delicious two-paper wrap from a cheese shop (the one which has some inner liner, and an outer) Letting cheese breathe is important.
steponlego 4y ago
GPT-written?
samstave 4y ago
>>"For months, Fermi had been attempting to produce “artificial radioactivity” by placing a bar of silver inside a lead container and then blasting it with a stream of radon." - ELI5 the tools, methods, and how the components/processes were developed to "blast silver encased in lead with radon to incite 'particles' to hit Paraffin wax??? And please ELI5 'How the hell does one even come up with such an idea'?

49 points by ctoth 4y ago

An indispensable product and, as the article mentions, source of much speculation and argument, whether as work avoidance or something to think/talk about during downtime. When I think of how different labs are equipped and what’s in common, parafilm is one of those I imagine almost every one will have.

AlotOfReading 4y ago

The fact that Parafilm hasn't been commercialized for the consumer market has always baffled me. It's so much better than consumer cling wraps and the bulk cost from supply houses is within a couple multiples of consumer alternatives, so the price wouldn't even be that far off. Slap some environmental branding on a big roll and it should be able to compete directly with glad et al at the grocery store.

ghaff 4y ago
I totally forgot about that. I interned in a couple chemistry labs in college. Now that I think about it, a product like Glad Press 'N Seal isn't quite Parafilm but it's a big improvement over the conventional cling wrap for a lot of purposes. Not sure how Parafilm costs compare--although prices probably aren't a great proxy given probable margin differences.
zabzonk 4y ago
i'm not sure i would want to eat something that had been wrapped in parafilm - ex microbiology lab tech speaking.
synaesthesisx 4y ago
Parafilm is permeable to gases, and generally you don’t want to enable oxidization with most foods. A modified, coated version of it would be a great consumer alternative however.
- earthling8118 4y ago
  Without this it is nearly DOA for this use case. I almost always use plastic wrap for the specific reason of preventing gas transfer

Metacelsus 4y ago

This is Metacelsus (co-author). Parafilm is really quite fascinating. If anyone knows what the 'M' stands for, I'd be very excited to learn!

kurthr 4y ago
I think that the M stands for Medium (or perhaps moisture controlling?), because there is an eXtreme version X that is thicker and for harsher environments. I only know of it, because it was more difficult to use (stretch) if someone bought the wrong stuff. We used it in chem/clean rooms for decades since it doesn't develop static charge (as badly as cling wrap). Neither deals well with high temperatures or solvents.
- Metacelsus 4y ago
  Hmm, I've never heard of Parafilm X and it doesn't show up in any searches. Do you have a link to it?
  - kurthr 4y ago
    Interesting! Well, it was over 20 years ago so I guess things have changed (or my memory is just fallible). I've found (only M on Aldrich) some floral stuff and a history(1) that claims nobody knows what M stands for. It looks like the product (but not the factory that makes it in Wisconsin?) has been sold a bunch of times since the mid 90s to early 00s I last remember. 1) yours! Damn, lost in the mists of time. It's still used by SEM eBeam folks so I'll ask around the old coworkers.
    - fuzzfactor 4y ago
      This has all the signs of a loss of corporate knowledge. I don't think anybody is going to find type X any more, and you may very well personally have a better recollection of its previous existence than anybody working at the factory any more. You never know. This factory has changed hands so many times over the decades, always as a small part of a larger portfolio since it was acquired the first time, there's no way it could have been as prosperous as possible the whole time. I can only imagine there was some executive, maybe even an engineer who knew everything about every product, who had to cut back production of everything but the single best-selling type for financial reasons at some point. Maybe back when M, X, and who knows how many other types, had a well-known meaning across the factory. And all knowledgable parties involved now long retired decades ago, and the company/factory changing hands so much with all kinds of shareholders, none of them capable of making more of it than it already was.

s0rce 4y ago

You can also get Purple parafilm.

fortran77 4y ago

We used to use it in the college darkroom as a cheaper alternative to "Kodak Dry Mount Tissue" As far as I can tell, it was the same stuff. https://www.ebay.com/itm/325517709920?mkevt=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=711-53200-19255-0&campid=5338722076&customid=&toolid=10050 https://www.ebay.com/itm/325517709920?mkevt=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=...

ggm 4y ago

It would seem to me to be not just "lab cheese" but possibly the best cheese wrapper for ordinary mortals who can't get that delicious two-paper wrap from a cheese shop (the one which has some inner liner, and an outer) Letting cheese breathe is important.

steponlego 4y ago

GPT-written?

samstave 4y ago

>>"For months, Fermi had been attempting to produce “artificial radioactivity” by placing a bar of silver inside a lead container and then blasting it with a stream of radon." - ELI5 the tools, methods, and how the components/processes were developed to "blast silver encased in lead with radon to incite 'particles' to hit Paraffin wax??? And please ELI5 'How the hell does one even come up with such an idea'?