1. Rubber
By: Dominique Fabela

2. What is rubber?
Rubber is strong, stretchy, flexible, durable, and waterproof.
Rubber falls into two different categories; natural and synthetic rubber.

3. Natural rubber
Natural rubber is made from a runny, milky white liquid called latex that oozes from a certain plant when you cut into them.
99% of natural rubber latex comes from a tree called Hevea Brasiliensis, aka the rubber tree.

4. Synthetic rubber
Synthetic rubber is made is a chemical plant using petrochemicals.
Neoprene, one of the first synthetic rubbers, is made by reacting acetylene and hydrochloric acid.

5. How is rubber made?
First, you gather your latex from the rubber trees using a process called rubber tapping.
Rubber tapping is making a wide, V-shaped cut in the trees bark and then as the latex drips out is collected in a cup.
Then the latex is filtered, washed, and reacted with acid to make the particles of rubber stick together.
The rubber is then pressed into slabs or sheets and then dried.

6. How is rubber made?
Next, we use masticating machines to “chew up” raw rubber using mechanical rollers and pressers to make it softer, easier to work with and more sticky.
After the rubber has been masticated, additional chemicals are mixed in to improve it’s properties.
Then the rubber goes through a process called calendaring which squashes the rubber into shape by rollers or goes through a process called extrusion which squeezes the rubber through specially shaped holes to make hollow tubes.

7. How is rubber made?
Last, the rubber is vulcanized, or cooked, sulfur is added and the rubber is heated to about 280 degrees Fahrenheit.

8. What do we use rubber for?
We use rubber for things like rain boots, waterproof clothes, adhesives, and many other things.
About half of the worlds rubber is used to make wheels for cars, bicycles, and trucks.
Soft and stretchy latex is used for everyday things like, pencil erasers, protective gloves, birthday balloons, adhesives, and paints.
Harder rubbers are used for roofing membranes, rigid inflatable boats, and butyl liners in gardens.

9. What do we use rubber for?
Neoprene is also commonly used as building material such as, roof and floor sealant, and as a spongy absorber of sound and vibration in door and window linings.
You will also see neoprene used in fashion.

10. Recycling Rubber
There was a huge quantity of waste in the US. and according the Rubber Manufactures Association, the US. produced 270 million waste tires in 2011.
Rubber manufactures are now focusing on recycling tires in all kinds of ways such as making everything from mouse mats and sports bags to shoe soles and car components.