Rubber from trees

Natural rubber is made from the sap of the Para rubber tree, also simply known as the wild rubber tree. One of the main ingredients of rubber is a white sap called latex. In order to get the latex, the bark of the tree is 'tapped'. This is when you cut small slits into the bark so that the latex drips out. The latex is caught in collecting cups. Liquid latex is now shipped to factories where the rubber is made by machines. It can be cloured and made into car tires, gloves, hoses, balloons and many other things.
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.

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. Rubber can also be made from chemicals found in petroleum. Rubber made from chemicals is called synthetic rubber.
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