I’ve often wondered why the Michelin man is white. He’s the mascot for a tire company and tires are usually black, right?
He’s white because rubber is white, rather natural rubber starts out white. It only becomes black during the manufacturing process. Rubber begins as a white, sticky latex and turns black when carbon black, essentially powdered carbon, is added to improve its strength.
Most rubber comes from the Hevea brasiliensis tree as it grows well under cultivation. The tree is native to the Amazon rainforest, but in 1876 seeds were smuggled out by a English explorer Henry Wickham and they were sent to British colonies in India, Singapore and Malaysia. The majority of the commercial rubber in present day comes from these countries.
It was first used by the Olmec culture in Mesoamerica to make bouncing balls. In 1770 Joseph Priestly found that the material was very good at rubbing out pencil marks from paper, hence the name “rubber”. Often, rubber is vulcanized to improve its elasticity and resistance. This is done by heating it with sulfur, bisphenol, and peroxide.
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