The British call a rubber what Americans call an eraser
This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. If an article link referred you here, you might want to go back and fix it to point directly to the intended page.
Rubber is an elastic hydrocarbon polymer which occurs as a milky emulsion (known as latex) in the sap of a number of plants but can also be produced synthetically.
Natural rubber is often vulcanized, a process by which the rubber is heated and sulfur is added to improve resilience and elasticity.
Rubber as a clothing material is fetishized by some people, perhaps on the basis that the garment forms a "second skin" that acts as a surrogate for the wearer's own skin.
Blocks of the material are still used for this purpose, and known as 'rubbers' in England, causing occasional amusement to Americans, to whom a 'rubber' is a condom (usually made from latex).
The para rubber tree initially grew only in South America, but after repeated efforts it was successfully cultivated in Southeast Asia, where it is widely grown today.
Over half of the rubber used today is synthetic, but several million tonnes of natural rubber are still produced annually.
Feeds |
Contact