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Rubber

SciShow Tangents

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What Is Natural Rubber?

In 1735, a French explorer brought a sample of rubber from Peru to France. The native Peruvians called it something that sounded like cow shoe. That is another word for natural rubber. Synthetic rubber just refers to anything that is an elastomer in chemistry where it doesn't necessarily need to be made out of polyisoprene. It's the kind of molecule that all these latexes that are good for rubber have in common. And it's what makes it sticky and bouncy and goopy.

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