2. Rubber’s elastic property
comes from its chemical
makeup. Rubber is a
polymer, a chain of
repeating units called
monomers (Freudenrich
1).
3. The monomer in rubber is
called isoprene and has
two carbon-carbon double
bonds (1).
4. The fluid which comes from latex trees contains large
numbers of isoprene molecules and as the latex dries, the
isoprene molecules crowd together (1). The isoprene
molecules then attack carbon-carbon double bonds of
neighboring molecules causing the double bonds to break
(1). The electrons then rearrange to form a bond between the
two isoprene molecules (1).
5. The process continues until long strands of many isoprene
molecules are linked like a chain (Freudenrich 1). These
strands are called polyisoprene polymer with each
polyisoprene molecule containing thousands of isoprene
monomers (1).
6. As the drying process continues electrostatic bonds form
between the polyisoprene strands (1). The electrostatic
attraction between strands holds the rubber fibers together
and gives them their “stretchy” property (1).
7. Temperature affects the electrostatic interactions between the
polyisoprene strands in latex rubber (1). Hot temperatures
reduce the interactions and cause the rubber to have a stickier
texture (1). Colder temperatures increase the interactions and
cause the rubber to become brittle (1).