What Does Rubber Come From

In rubber the monomer is a carbon compound called isoprene that has two carbon carbon double bonds.

What does rubber come from.

They are polymers synthesized from petroleum byproducts. The latex fluid that seeps from rubber trees has many isoprene molecules. Natural rubber is produced from plants and is classified as a polymer a chemical compound with large molecules made of many smaller molecules of the same kind. This tree is said to have come from the amazon rainforest in brazil originally.

A synthetic rubber is any artificial elastomer. Over 400 different plants and trees produce latex but the latex used in natural rubber comes from the rubber tree plant hevea brasiliesis. Thailand and indonesia are two of the leading rubber producers. Global revenues generated with synthetic rubbers are likely to rise to approximately us 56 billion in 2020.

During world war ii supplies of natural rubber from these nations were cut off just when there was a huge demand from the military and that accelerated the development of synthetic rubbers notably in germany and the united states. Some polymers exist naturally and others are produced in laboratories and factories. As the name suggests the rubber tree originated in tropical south america. These vines cannot be grown in cultivation and this led to large scale exploitation of the wild plants in congo.

About 32 million metric tons of rubbers are produced annually in the united states and of that amount two thirds are synthetic. It appears to be unrelated to the elastic sort of rubber incidentally our modern elastic rubber is short for india rubber from its original source in the east indies. A set of three games of bridge is still generally referred to as a rubber. Natural rubber comes from various sources the most common being the pará rubber tree hevea brasiliensis.

Types of polyisoprene that are used as natural rubbers are classified as elastomers. Like plastic rubber is a polymer which is a chain of repeating units called monomers. Where does rubber come from. Natural rubber is made from the milky white substance called latex that is produced by some trees and plants instead of sap.

Natural rubber also called india rubber latex amazonian rubber caucho or caoutchouc as initially produced consists of polymers of the organic compound isoprene with minor impurities of other organic compounds plus water. Changing the ratio of latex to morning glory juice changed the properties of the rubber. From bouncy balls to rubber sandals the mesoamericans knew and used rubber. As its name suggests the rubber tree hevea brasiliensis originally came from brazil from where it was introduced to such countries of the far east as malaysia indonesia burma cambodia china and vietnam.

Unfortunately no one knows where rubber in this sense came from.