The surprising history of tinsel (video)

WASHINGTON, Dec. 16, 2014 — It’s been a holiday decoration staple for decades, and it turns out that silver stuff hanging from your tree has quite a storied past. Tinsel has been made out of everything from real silver, to lead to other dangerously flammable materials. This week’s Speaking of Chemistry decks your halls with the history of tinsel. Check it out at http://youtu.be/fql3aCuu1l0.

Speaking of Chemistry is a production of Chemical & Engineering News, a weekly magazine of the American Chemical Society. The program features fascinating, weird and otherwise interesting chemistry topics. Subscribe to the series at http://bit.ly/CENOnline and follow us on Twitter @CENMag.

The American Chemical Society is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. With more than 161,000 members, ACS is the world’s largest scientific society and a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.