Exhibition Room Information Technology: Baykomm

Exhibition Room Information Technology

Materials for the information society

Futurologists and trend researchers all agree that nothing in the recent past has changed the world so much as developments in the field of IT or information technology. Computers, Internet, storage media and television have made information something that people simply take for granted. They also form the basis of the modern-day information society, but it was actually chemistry that made IT possible in the first place.

Turning home video into a multimedia experience: a DVD provides space for four hours of movies in several languages.

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Turning home video into a multimedia experience: a DVD provides space for four hours of movies in several languages.

Example: the computer. The keyboard, monitor and PC housing are all made of engineering thermoplastics with outstanding flame-retardant properties. Capacitors are also becoming smaller and more powerful all the time as a result of the progress being made in the chemicals sector. And then there are the antistatic coatings that prevent the monitor from becoming covered in dust.

Example: data cables. Every day, around ten billion e-mails are dispatched throughout the world. To make sure they arrive safely at the right destination, high-tech data lines are needed. These optical fiber cables are embedded in protective plastic tubes to protect them from external influences.

Example: storage media. Floppy disks bowed out long ago. First of all they were superseded by CDs, and now also by DVDs. The storage capacity increased in the process from 1.4 megabytes to 4.7 gigabytes. And now the Blue-Ray-Disk with 27 gigabytes is waiting in the wings.

Visitors can test their knowledge in a game.

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Visitors can test their knowledge in a game.

For all these successors to the floppy disk, the ideal carrier material is polycarbonate.

Example: TV set. Hanging a flat-screen TV on the wall like a picture is nothing unusual any more, but the fact that the TV can also generate a highly relaxed atmosphere through a special ambient lighting system and improve the perceived picture quality at the same time is quite unique. It's all down to a transparent frame made of polycarbonate.

Example: loudspeakers. Whether we are talking about a movie film on DVD or a concert on CD – the sound quality is of major importance. And today, you don't even need speakers because the sound comes out of the wall. Concealed beneath the surface are seven millimeter thick soundboards made of polyurethane, which create a completely new sound experience.

Baykomm shows why IT and chemistry have formed such a strong partnership.