Rubber

Description

Reveals that South American tribes used rubber long before the world got to know about it; when Columbus witnessed Haitian natives playing ball, he found himself mesmerized by the bouncing goo. Discovers how Charles Goodyear learned the secret of stabilizing rubber, by dropping a lump of natural rubber on his wife's stove. Explores this invention during the Industrial Revolution and the rubber boom, which turned a remote Brazilian jungle town into one of the richest cities on earth. Shows how one researcher, looking for something to replace the rubber in tires, discovered a material that can stop bullets, Kevlar.

Runtime

25 min

Series

Subjects

Genre

Date of Publication

2011

Database

Alexander Street

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