This basketball has an outer cover made from leather, a natural product polymer. To help it hold air it has an inner liner made from a kind of rubber called polyisobutylene.
Baseball gloves are also made of leather, and that leather is stitched together with thread made from polymeric fibers, such as cotton, nylon, and polyesters.
The frame of this tennis racket is made from an especially strong polymer called
carbon fiber, and its strings are made of nylon.
And of course, you couldn't grasp it without the leather which wraps the handle.
An ordinary athletic shoe has many parts made from polymers. The sole is made from
a block copolymer called poly(styrene-butadiene-styrene).
Cushioning is made from
natural rubber and
polyurethane.
Leather and nylon are used in the panels, and the
laces can be made from cotton.
Recognize these? These shorts Kelly is holding are the ones that high
school coaches wear to support
their beer guts. They are made of a polyester called
poly(ethylene terephthalate).
Many polymers are found in this simple baseball. The outer
cover is made of leather, stitched together with cotton thread.
The inside contains more cotton, as well as natural rubber.
This warm-up jacket is made entirely of nylon fibers.
Biking shorts like these are made of fibers of an interesting block co-polymer
called spandex, which allows the
pants to stretch.
Most of the outer parts of roller blades are made of polyethylene.
The cover of a golf ball is often made of Surlyn.
This is a kind of material we call an ionomer
and a thermoplastic elastomer.
And golf balls aren't much good without golf clubs. Rodney here is
practicing his swing with a driver with a shaft made of
carbon fiber, and a head made
of wood, which is made of cellulose.
