Latex being collected from a tapped rubber tree

Rubber is an elastic hydrocarbon polymer which occurs as a milky colloidal suspension (known as latex) in the sap of several varieties of plants. Rubber can also be produced synthetically. Download high resolution version (1920x2560, 527 KB)Latex dripping out a rubber tree. ... Download high resolution version (1920x2560, 527 KB)Latex dripping out a rubber tree. ... Rubber tapping in Kerala Rubber tapping is the process by which rubber is gathered. ... Hydrocarbons are refined at oil refineries and processed at chemical plants A hydrocarbon is a chemical compound that consists only of the elements carbon (C) and hydrogen (H). ... Polymer is the term used to describe large molecules consisting of repeating structural units, or monomers, connected by covalent chemical bonds. ... A colloidal suspension consists of a mixture of compounds in which a solid or liquid is suspended in a fluid because of its particle size. ...

Explanation

Synthetic rubber is made through the polymerization of a variety of monomers to produce polymers. These form part of a broad study covered by polymer science and rubber technology. Its scientific name is polyisoprene. Synthetic rubber is any type of artificially made polymer material which acts as an elastomer. ... This is the article about the process. ... In chemistry, a monomer (from Greek mono one and meros part) is a small molecule that may become chemically bonded to other monomers to form a polymer. ... A polymer is a long, repeating chain of atoms, formed through the linkage of many molecules called monomers. ... Polymer chemistry or macromolecular chemistry is a multidisciplinary science that deals with the chemical synthesis and chemical properties of polymers or macromolecules. ...

The major commercial source of natural latex used to create rubber is the Para rubber tree, Hevea brasiliensis (Euphorbiaceae). This is largely because it responds to wounding by producing more latex. Henry Wickham gathered thousands of seeds from Brazil in 1876 and they were germinated in Kew Gardens, England. The seedlings were sent to Colombo, Indonesia, Singapore and British Malaya. Malaya was later to become the biggest producer of rubber. Liberia is another source of rubber. Binomial name Hevea brasiliensis Muell. ... Genera See text Ref: Euphorbiaceae in The Families of Flowering Plants, as of 2002-07-13 The Spurge family (Euphorbiaceae) is a large family of flowering plants with 280 genera and around 6000 species. ... Sir Henry Alexander Wickham was responsible for gathering 70,000 seeds from the rubber-bearing tree, Hevea brasiliensis, in the Manaus area of Brazil in 1876. ... Kew Gardens is the name of several places: Kew Gardens is a commonly-used name for the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, London, United Kingdom Kew Gardens is the name of a park in The Beaches neighborhood of Toronto, Ontario, Canada Kew Gardens is also the name of a neighborhood... Map of Colombo with its administrative districts Coordinates: District Colombo Division, Colombo District Mayor Uvaiz Mohammad Imitiyaz (Sri Lanka Freedom Party) Area    - City 37. ... British Malaya was a set of states that were colonized by the British from the 18th and the 19th until the 20th century. ...

Other plants containing latex include figs (Ficus elastica), euphorbias, and the common dandelion. Although these have not been major sources of rubber, Germany attempted to use such sources during World War II when it was cut off from rubber supplies. These attempts were later supplanted by the development of synthetic rubber. Species About 800, including: Ficus altissima Ficus americana Ficus aurea Ficus benghalensis- Indian Banyan Ficus benjamina- Weeping Fig Ficus broadwayi Ficus carica- Common Fig Ficus citrifolia Ficus coronata Ficus drupacea Ficus elastica Ficus godeffroyi Ficus grenadensis Ficus hartii Ficus lyrata Ficus macbrideii Ficus macrophylla- Moreton Bay Fig Ficus microcarpa- Chinese... Binomial name Ficus elastica Roxb. ... This article needs cleanup. ... Species See text A dandelion is a short plant, usually with a yellow flower head and notched leaves. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... Synthetic rubber is any type of artificially made polymer material which acts as an elastomer. ...

Collection

A woman in Ceylon in the process of harvesting rubber.

In places like Kerala, where coconuts are in abundance, the shell of half a coconut is used as the collection container for the latex. The shells are attached to the tree via a short sharp stick and the latex drips down into it overnight. This usually produces latex up to a level of half to three quarters of the shell. The latex from multiple trees is then poured into flat pans, and this is mixed with formic acid, which serves as a coagulant. After a few hours, the very wet sheets of rubber are wrung out by putting them through a press before they are sent onto factories where vulcanization and further processing is done.   (IPA: ; , Written as േകരളം in the native language Malayalam) is a state on the Western Coast of south-western India. ... Formic acid (systematically called methanoic acid) is the simplest carboxylic acid. ... Vulcanization, or curing of rubber, is a chemical process in which individual polymer molecules are linked to other polymer molecules by atomic bridges. ...

Indian Rubber Board

In India commercial cultivation of natural rubber was introduced by the British Planters, although the experimental efforts to grow rubber on a commercial scale in India were initiated as early as 1873 at the Botanical Gardens, Kolkata. The first commercial Hevea plantations in India were established at Thattekadu in Kerala in 1902. The importance of rubber production in India for strategic and security reasons had been realized by the government during the Second World War period. 1873 (MDCCCLXXIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ...   (IPA: [] Bengali: কলকাতা) (formerly  ) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. ...   (IPA: ; , Written as േകരളം in the native language Malayalam) is a state on the Western Coast of south-western India. ... 1902 (MCMII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ...

After the Second World War, there were growing demands from the rubber growers for setting up a permanent organization to look after the interests of the rubber industry. Thereupon the Government of India set up a committee in 1945 to study the situation and to make appropriate recommendation. On the recommendation of the committee, Government of India passed the Rubber (Production and Marketing) Act, 1947, on 18th April 1947, and the Indian Rubber Board was constituted. The Rubber (Production and Marketing) Act, 1954, amended the name of the Board as The Rubber Board The Government of India (Hindi: भारत सरकार Bharat Sarkar), officially referred to as the Union Government, and commonly as Central Government, was established by the Constitution of India, and is the governing authority of a federal union of 28 states and 7 union territories, collectively called the Republic of India. ... Year 1945 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1945 calendar). ... The Government of India (Hindi: भारत सरकार Bharat Sarkar), officially referred to as the Union Government, and commonly as Central Government, was established by the Constitution of India, and is the governing authority of a federal union of 28 states and 7 union territories, collectively called the Republic of India. ... Year 1947 (MCMXLVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1947 calendar). ... Year 1954 (MCMLIV) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Chemical makeup

Aside from a few natural product impurities, natural rubber is essentially a polymer of isoprene units, a hydrocarbon diene monomer. Synthetic rubber can be made as a polymer of isoprene or various other monomers. Rubber is believed to have been named by Joseph Priestley, who discovered in 1770 that dried latex rubbed out pencil marks. The material properties of natural rubber make it an elastomer and a thermoplastic. Isoprene is a common synonym for the chemical compound 2-methyl-1,3-butadiene. ... Dienes are hydrocarbons which contain two double bonds. ... In chemistry, a monomer (from Greek mono one and meros part) is a small molecule that may become chemically bonded to other monomers to form a polymer. ... Joseph Frederick Priestley is often credited for the discovery of oxygen. ... Battle of Chesma, by Ivan Aivazovsky. ... The term elastomer is often used interchangeably with the term rubber, and is preferred when referring to vulcanisates. ... A thermoplastic is a material that is plastic or deformable, melts to a liquid when heated and freezes to a brittle, glassy state when cooled sufficiently. ...

History

In its native Central America and South America, rubber has been collected for a long time. The Mesoamerican civilizations used rubber mostly from Castilla elastica. The Ancient Mesoamericans had a ball game using rubber balls (see: Mesoamerican ballgame), and a few Pre-Columbian rubber balls have been found (always in sites that were flooded under fresh water), the earliest dating to about 1600 BC. According to Bernal Díaz del Castillo, the Spanish Conquistadores were so astounded by the vigorous bouncing of the rubber balls of the Aztecs that they wondered if the balls were enchanted by evil spirits. The Maya also made a type of temporary rubber shoe by dipping their feet into a latex mixture. Rubber was used in various other contexts, such as strips to hold stone and metal tools to wooden handles, and padding for the tool handles. While the ancient Mesoamericans did not have vulcanization, they developed organic methods of processing the rubber with similar results, mixing the raw latex with various saps and juices of other vines, particularly Ipomoea alba, a species of Morning glory. In Brazil the natives understood the use of rubber to make water-resistant cloth. A story says that the first European to return to Portugal from Brazil with samples of such water-repellent rubberized cloth so shocked people that he was brought to court on the charge of witchcraft. Map of Central America Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. ... South America South America is a continent crossed by the equator, with most of its area in the Southern Hemisphere. ... The cultural areas of Mesoamerica Mesoamerica or Meso-America (Spanish: Mesoamérica) was a geographical culture area extending from central Honduras and northwestern Costa Rica on the south, and, in Mexico, from the Soto la Marina River in Tamaulipas and the Rio Fuerte in Sinaloa on the north. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Ulama game. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... (Redirected from 1600 BC) Centuries: 18th century BC - 17th century BC - 16th century BC Decades: 1650s BC 1640s BC 1630s BC 1620s BC 1610s BC - 1600s BC - 1590s BC 1580s BC 1570s BC 1560s BC 1550s BC Events and trends Egypt: End of Fourteenth Dynasty The creation of one of... Bernal Díaz del Castillo (1492 or 1493 - 1581) was a conquistador, who wrote an eyewitness account of the conquest of Mexico under Hernán Cortés. ... Conquistador (Spanish: []) (meaning Conqueror in the Spanish language) is the term used to refer to the soldiers, explorers and adventurers who brought much of the Americas and Asia Pacific under Spanish colonial rule between the 15th and 17th centuries, starting with the 1492 settlement established in the modern-day Bahamas... The Aztecs were a Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican people of central Mexico in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries who built an extensive empire in the late Postclassic period of Mesoamerican chronology. ... 74. ... Binomial name Ipomoea alba L. Ipomoea alba, sometimes called the moonflower (but not to be confused with the other species of that name), is a species of night-blooming morning-glory, with large, white flowers. ... Look up morning glory in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

When samples of rubber first arrived in England, it was observed by Joseph Priestley, in 1770, that a piece of the material was extremely good for rubbing out pencil marks on paper (see eraser), hence the name. Motto: (French for God and my right) Anthem: God Save the King/Queen Capital London (de facto) Largest city London Official language(s) English (de facto) Unification    - by Athelstan AD 927  Area    - Total 130,395 km² (1st in UK)   50,346 sq mi  Population    - 2006 est. ... Joseph Frederick Priestley is often credited for the discovery of oxygen. ... Battle of Chesma, by Ivan Aivazovsky. ... This article is about the handwriting instument. ... A pencil eraser. ...

The para rubber tree initially grew in South America, where it was the main source of what limited amount of latex rubber was consumed during much of the 19th century. About 100 years ago, the Congo Free State in Africa was a significant source of natural rubber latex, mostly gathered by forced labor. The Congo Free State was forged and ruled as a personal colony by the Belgian King Leopold II. After repeated efforts (see Henry Wickham) rubber was successfully cultivated in Southeast Asia, where it is now widely grown. South America South America is a continent crossed by the equator, with most of its area in the Southern Hemisphere. ... Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... Flag Capital Boma Government Monarchy Ruler and owner Leopold II of Belgium Historical era New Imperialism  - Established 1885  - Annexation by Belgium 15 November, 1908 The Congo Free State was a corporate state privately owned by King Leopold II of Belgium (not in his role as monarch) that included the entire... King Leopold II Leopold II, King of the Belgians (Louis Philippe Marie Victor) (April 9, 1835–December 17, 1909), succeeded his father, Leopold I of Belgium, to the Belgian throne in 1865 and remained king until his death. ... Sir Henry Alexander Wickham was responsible for gathering 70,000 seeds from the rubber-bearing tree, Hevea brasiliensis, in the Manaus area of Brazil in 1876. ... Location of Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is a subregion of Asia. ...

Properties

Rubber latex.

Rubber exhibits unique physical and chemical properties.

Rubber's stress-strain behavior exhibits the Mullins effect, the Payne effect and is often modeled as hyperelastic. The stress-strain response in filled rubbers typically depends strongly on the maximum loading previously encountered. ... The Payne effect is a particular feature of the stress-strain behavior of filled rubber. ... A hyperelastic or Green elastic material is an ideally elastic material for which the stress-strain relationship derives from a strain energy density function. ...

Rubber strain crystallizes.

Why does rubber have elasticity?

In most elastic materials, such as metals used in springs, the elastic behavior is caused by bond distortions. When force is applied, bond lengths deviate from the (minimum energy) equilibrium and strain energy is stored electrostatically. Rubber is often assumed to behave in the same way, but it turns out this is a poor description. Rubber is a curious material because, unlike metals, strain energy is stored thermally, as well as electrostatically. For alternative meanings see metal (disambiguation). ... A compression coil spring A tension coil spring A selection of conical coil springs A Coil spring, also known as a helical spring, is a mechanical device, which is typically used to store energy and subsequently release it, to absorb shock, or to maintain a force between contacting surfaces. ... A chemical bond is the PHYSICAL process responsible for the ATTRACTIVE INTERACTIONS between atoms and molecules, and that which confers stability to diatomic and polyatomic chemical compounds. ... Electric potential is the potential energy per unit charge associated with a static (time-invariant) electric field, also called the electrostatic potential, typically measured in volts. ... 1. ...

In its relaxed state rubber consists of long, coiled-up polymer chains that are interlinked at a few points. Between a pair of links each monomer can rotate freely about its neighbour. This gives each section of chain leeway to assume a large number of geometries, like a very loose rope attached to a pair of fixed points. At room temperature rubber stores enough kinetic energy so that each section of chain oscillates chaotically, like the above piece of rope being shaken violently. In chemistry, a disulfide bond is a single covalent bond derived from the coupling of thiol groups. ... Room temperature describes a certain temperature within enclosed space that is uses for various purposes by human beings. ... Kinetic energy is the energy by virtue of the motion of an object. ...

When rubber is stretched the "loose pieces of rope" are taut and thus no longer able to oscillate. Their kinetic energy is given off as excess heat. Therefore, the entropy decreases when going from the relaxed to the stretched state, and it increases during relaxation. This change in entropy can also be explained by the fact that a tight section of chain can fold in fewer ways (W) than a loose section of chain, at a given temperature (nb. entropy is defined as S=k*ln(W)). Relaxation of a stretched rubber band is thus driven by an increase in entropy, and the force experienced is not electrostatic, rather it is a result of the thermal energy of the material being converted to kinetic energy. Rubber relaxation is endothermic. The material undergoes adiabatic cooling during contraction. This property of rubber can easily be verified by holding a stretched rubber band to your lips and relaxing it. Ice melting - classic example of entropy increasing[1] described in 1862 by Rudolf Clausius as an increase in the disgregation of the molecules of the body of ice. ... Five rubber bands A rubber band (in some regions known as a binder, elastic or lacker band or gumband in the U.S. city of Pittsburgh, PA as well as some parts of the country of Australia) is a short length of rubber and latex formed in the shape of... In thermodynamics, the word endothermic describes a process or reaction that absorbs energy in the form of heat. ... This article covers adiabatic processes in thermodynamics. ...

Stretching of a rubber band is in some ways equivalent to the compression of an ideal gas, and relaxation in equivalent to its expansion. Note that a compressed gas also exhibits "elastic" properties, for instance inside an inflated car tire. The fact that stretching is equivalent to compression may seem somewhat counter-intuitive, but it makes sense if rubber is viewed as a one-dimensional gas. Stretching reduces the "space" available to each section of chain. Bold text Wiktionary has related dictionary definitions, such as: compressor, compression inthe wkjhrlfidhb;g/df == Compressor may refer to: Gas compressor, a mechanical device that compresses a gas e. ... An ideal gas or perfect gas is a hypothetical gas consisting of identical particles of zero volume, with no intermolecular forces. ... Expansion can have several meanings, including: In physics: Expansion of space In computer hardware: an Expansion card In computer programming: In-line expansion In computer gaming: an expansion pack See also: Wikipedia:Requests for expansion This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might... A tire or tyre (see spelling differences and etymological origins) is a device covering the circumference of a wheel. ...

Vulcanization of rubber creates more disulphide bonds between chains so it makes each free section of chain shorter. The result is that the chains tighten more quickly for a given length of strain. This increases the elastic force constant and makes rubber harder and less extendable. Vulcanization, or curing of rubber, is a chemical process in which individual polymer molecules are linked to other polymer molecules by atomic bridges. ... A disulfide bond (SS-bond), also called a disulfide bridge, is a strong covalent bond between two sulfhydryl groups. ... Look up strain in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

When cooled below the glass transition temperature, the quasi-fluid chain segments "freeze" into fixed geometries and the rubber abruptly loses its elastic properties, though the process is reversible. This is a property it shares with most elastomers. At very cold temperatures rubber is actually rather brittle; it will break into shards when struck. This critical temperature is the reason that winter tires use a softer version of rubber than normal tires. The failing rubber o-ring seals that contributed to the cause of the Challenger disaster were thought to have cooled below their critical temperature. The disaster happened on an unusually cold day. A material’s glass transition temperature, Tg, is the temperature below which molecules have little relative mobility. ... Firestone tire A tire (US spelling) or tyre (UK spelling) is a roughly toroidal piece of (usually) rubber placed on a wheel to cushion it. ... Typical O-ring and application An O-ring is a loop of elastomer with a round (o-shaped) cross-section used as a mechanical seal. ... STS-51-L was the 25th launch of a Space Shuttle and the tenth launch of the Challenger. ...

Current sources of rubber

Close to 21 million tonnes of rubber was produced in 2005 of which around 42% was natural. Today Asia is the main source of natural rubber, accounting for around 94% of output in 2005. The three largest producing countries (Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand) together accounts for around 72% of all natural rubber production. World map showing the location of Asia. ...

Hypoallergenic rubber can be made from Guayule. Look up hypoallergenic in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Binomial name Parthenium argentatum L. Guayule (Parthenium argentatum), pronounced wa-YOO-lee, is a shrub in the genus Parthenium of the family Asteraceae, native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. ...

Early experiments in the development of synthetic rubber led to the invention of Silly Putty. Synthetic rubber is any type of artificially made polymer material which acts as an elastomer. ... Silly putty dripping through a hole Silly Putty shown as a solid cube Silly Putty (originally called nutty putty, and also known as Potty Putty) is a silicone plastic clay, marketed as a toy for children by Binney & Smith Inc. ...

Natural rubber is often vulcanized, a process by which the rubber is heated and sulfur, peroxide or bisphenol are added to improve resilience and elasticity, and to prevent it from perishing. Vulcanization greatly improved the durability and utility of rubber from the 1830s on. The successful development of vulcanisation is most closely associated with Charles Goodyear. Carbon black is often used as an additive to rubber to improve its strength, especially in vehicle tires. Vulcanization, or curing of rubber, is a chemical process in which individual polymer molecules are linked to other polymer molecules by atomic bridges. ... General Name, Symbol, Number sulfur, S, 16 Chemical series nonmetals Group, Period, Block 16, 3, p Appearance lemon yellow Atomic mass 32. ... Vulcanization, or curing of rubber, is a chemical process in which individual polymer molecules are linked to other polymer molecules by atomic bridges. ... Events and Trends Electromagnetic induction discovered by Michael Faraday Dutch-speaking farmers known as Voortrekkers emigrate northwards from the Cape Colony Croquet invented in Ireland Railroad construction begins in earnest in the United States Egba refugees fleeing the Yoruba civil wars found the city of Abeokuta in south-west Nigeria... Charles Goodyear, as illustrated in an 1891 Scientific American article Charles Goodyear (December 29, 1800 - July 1, 1860) was the first American to vulcanize rubber, a process which he discovered in 1839 and patented on June 15, 1844. ... Carbon black is a material, today usually produced by the incomplete combustion of petroleum products. ...

Uses

The use of rubber is wide spread, ranging from household to industrial products, entering the production stream at the intermediate stage or as final products. Tyres and tubes are the largest consumers of rubber, accounting for around 56% total consumption in 2005. The remaining 44% are taken up by the general rubber goods (GRG) sector, which are all products except tyres and tubes.

Other significant users of rubber are hoses, belts and dampners for the automobile industry in what is known as the "under the bonnet" products. Gloves (medical, household and industrial) are also large consumers of rubber, although the type of rubber used is that of the concentrated latex. Significant tonnage of rubber is used as adhesives in many manufacturing industries and products, although the two most noticeable are the paper and the carpet industry.

See also

• Latex
• International Labor Rights Fund - child labor in the rubber industry
• synthetic rubber
• Elastomer
• rubber tapping
• Mackintosh
• elastic
• tire
• Fordlândia, failed attempt to establish rubber plantation in Brazil
• Akron, Ohio
• Stevenson Plan
• Rubber duckies

The LaTeX logo, typeset with LaTeX LATEX, written as LaTeX in plain text, is a document markup language and document preparation system for the TeX typesetting program. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Synthetic rubber is any type of artificially made polymer material which acts as an elastomer. ... The term elastomer is often used interchangeably with the term rubber, and is preferred when referring to vulcanisates. ... Rubber tapping in Kerala Rubber tapping is the process by which rubber is gathered. ... Mackintosh shop, Burlington Arcade, London. ... Look up elastic in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... A tire or tyre (see spelling differences and etymological origins) is a device covering the circumference of a wheel. ... Fordlândia (Ford-land) was a vast tract of land purchased by American automobile tycoon Henry Ford in the 1920s. ... Nickname: The Rubber Capital of the World Location within the state of Ohio Country United States State Ohio County Summit Founded 1825 Incorporated 1835 (village) - 1865 (city)  - Mayor Don Plusquellic (D) Area    - City  62. ... The Stevenson Plan was an effort by the British government to stabilize low rubber prices resulting from a glut of rubber following World War I. // Background In the early 1900s increased reliance on the automobile and the use of rubber in common products such as boots was driving demand... The quintessential yellow rubber duck Yellow rubber duck A real duckling, the animal on which the toy is based Some variations on the standard rubber duck. ...

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Rubber

• International Rubber Research & Development Board
• History of the International Rubber Industry from 1870-1930 from EH.NET
• Rubber Board Of India
• Rubber Division of ACS
• Brazilian Natural Rubber Project (only Portuguese)
• Rubber timeline
• QMUL Rubber Research Group
• Stop Firestone's Use of Child Labor in Rubber Production