Rubber from trees

Natural rubber is made from the sap of the wild rubber tree. The bark of the tree is 'tapped', this means cutting small slits into the bark, so that the white sap, known as latex, drips out and is caught in collecting cups.

Tapping of rubber trees is done by hand.

In the past, an acid was added to the latex to make the sap set like a jelly. The latex jelly was then flattened and rolled into sheets and hung out to dry by workers.

A way of making rubber stronger and more elastic was invented by and Charles Goodyear in 1839. His method was called vulcanising and it stopped rubber from perishing.

Liquid latex is now shipped to factories where the rubber is made by machines. It can be cloured and made into car tyres, gloves, hoses, balloons and many other things.

Rubber trees are native to tropical parts of South America and until the 1870's most rubber came from Brazil and other parts of South America. In Sir Henry Wickham took some seeds to England and grew seedlings. The rubber tree seedlings were later planted in large farms called plantations, in parts of South East Asia.

Do you know? Rubber can also be made from chemicals found in petroleum. this is called synthetic rubber.

Go to these sites to read more about natural rubber and to see pictures
http://sres.anu.edu.au/associated/fpt/nwfp/naturalrubber/naturalrubber.html

http://www.bio.ilstu.edu/armstrong/syllabi/rubber/rubber.htm

Go here to read about how a rubber tyre is made
http://www.driveradviser.com/tyre/construction.shtml

Read about Charles Goodyear here
http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blrubber.htm

If you use any part of this in your own work, acknowledge this source in your bibliography like this:
Thomas, R. & Sydenham, S. Rubber from trees [Online] www.kidcyber.com.au (2005)

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Updated April 2009 kidcyber