RUBBER TIRES
The tires seen on millions of cars across the world are the
result of multiple inventors working across several decades.
And those inventors have names that should be recognizable
to anyone who's ever bought tires for their car: Michelin,
Goodyear, and Dunlop. Of these, however, none had greater
impact on the invention of the rubber pneumatic tires than
Charles Goodyear, who discovered the process of
strengthening rubber, known as vulcanization or curing, in
1839, nearly more than 50 years before the first rubber tires
would appear on cars and so patented a process known as
vulcanization. He had actually been experimenting with
rubber since 1830 but had been unable to develop a suitable
curing process, yet during an experiment with a mixture of
rubber and sulfur, Goodyear dropped the mixture on a hot
stove accidentally. Then, a chemical reaction took place and,
instead of melting, the rubber-sulfur mixture formed a hard
lump, which is called vulcanization. He continued his
experiments until he could treat continuous sheets of rubber.
This process involved heating and removing the sulfur from
rubber, thus making the rubber waterproof and winter-proof
and allowing it to retain its elasticity. While Goodyear's claim
to have invented vulcanization was challenged, he is
considered as the father of vulcanized rubber tires. And that
became largely important once people realized it would be
perfect for making tires.
1. We learn from the passage that Goodyear -----.
A) was the first person to invent tires we still use for
automobiles
B) is widely regarded as the sole creator of tires
C) collaborated with Michelin and Dunlop to develop
rubber tires
D) is accepted as the first one to come up with an
idea of vulcanized rubber tires
E) was inspired by several other inventors such as
Michelin and Dunlop
AKIN DİL EĞİTİM MERKEZİ
WWW.AKINDIL.COM
2. What does the passage mainly focus on?
A) How rubber pneumatic tires and the process of
vulcanization came into being
B) What makes vulcanization preferable in tire
manufacture
C) The inventors of the first rubber tires and their
contributions on the tires
D) Charles Goodyear and his inventions
E) The challenge among inventors over the patent of
the vulcanization
3. What makes Goodyear’s invention distinct from
other tire inventors?
A) it could prevent tires from blowing out in case of an
accident
B) it enables the rubber to be waterproof rather than
winter-proof
C) when put on a hot stove, the rubber-sulfur mixture
melts
D) it was the first one allowing the treatment of
continuous sheets of rubber
E) it had a convenient curing process called
vulcanization, making the rubber more elastic
4. We can understand from the passage that -----.
A) before Charles Goodyear, the pioneers of the tire
technology were seen as Michelin and Dunlop
B) when a mixture of rubber and sulfur is dropped on
a stove, it melts
C) Charles Goodyear was not intentionally working on
the vulcanization process
D) the first rubber tires appeared on cars nearly 50
years before
E) Goodyear got the patent of the vulcanization
though it was also carried out by Michelin
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 RUBBER TIRES

CEVAPLAR:

1.D

2.A

3.E

4.C

2
AKIN DİL EĞİTİM MERKEZİ
WWW.AKINDIL.COM