Una plancha es un electrodoméstico, aunque también hay planchas para uso industrial y comercial, usadas en fábricas de ropa y tintorerías, que sirve para alisar la ropa quitándole las arrugas y las marcas. La plancha trabaja alisando los vínculos entre las cadenas largas de moléculas de polímero que existen en las fibras del material. Las fibras se estiran y mantienen su nueva forma cuando se enfrían. Esto lo logra con calor, ya que funciona como una resistencia calentadora con peso. Algunos materiales como el algodón requieren el empleo de agua o vapor de agua para aflojar los lazos intermoleculares para planchar mejor.

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A clothes iron is a small hand-held appliance with a handle holding a flat, roughly triangular surface that, when heated, is used to press clothes to remove creases. It is named for the metal of which the device is commonly made, and the use of it is generally called ironing. Ironing works by loosening the ties between the long chains of molecules that exist in polymer fiber materials. With the heat and the weight of the ironing plate, the fibers are stretched and the fabric maintains its new shape when cool. Some materials, such as cotton, require the use of water to loosen the intermolecular bonds. Many materials developed in the twentieth century are advertised as needing little or no ironing. Before the introduction of electricity irons were heated by combustion, either in a fire or with some internal arrangement. An "electric flatiron" was invented by US inventor Henry W. Seeley and patented on June 6, 1882. It weighed almost 15 pounds and took a long time to heat. The UK Electricity Association is reported to have said that an electric iron with a carbon arc appeared in France in 1880, but this is considered doubtful.

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