Natural rubber is an elastomer (an elastic hydrocarbon polymer) that was originally derived from a milky colloidal suspension, or latex, found in the sap of some plants. The purified form of natural rubber is the chemical polyisoprene, which can also be produced synthetically. Natural rubber is used extensively in many applications and products, as is synthetic rubber.
Charles Marie de La Condamine is credited with introducing samples of rubber t...
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Natural rubber is an elastomer (an elastic hydrocarbon polymer) that was originally derived from a milky colloidal suspension, or latex, found in the sap of some plants. The purified form of natural rubber is the chemical polyisoprene, which can also be produced synthetically. Natural rubber is used extensively in many applications and products, as is synthetic rubber.
Charles Marie de La Condamine is credited with introducing samples of rubber to the Académie Royale des Sciences of France in 1736. In 1751, he presented a paper by François Fresneau to the Académie (eventually published in 1755) which described many of the properties of rubber. This has been referred to as the first scientific paper on rubber.
The para rubber tree initially grew in South America, and the first European to return to Portugal from Brazil with samples of water-repellent rubberized cloth so shocked people that he was brought to court on the charge of witchcraft. When samples of rubber first arrived in...
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