Rubber: The Material That Changed the World
from All About Home Construction Hosted by Terry Gunnell-Beck and Randy Blake
This week on All About Home Construction, we take a look at a material most of us use every day but probably don't think much about — rubber. We talk about where natural rubber comes from, how people first discovered its waterproofing properties, and how rubber went from a product harvested from trees in South America to an important material in the modern world. We'll look at the development of rubber boots and waterproof footwear, the invention of vulcanized rubber in the 1800s, and how rubber eventually found its way into tires, shoes, seals, hoses and countless other products. And there's another side of the rubber tree that may surprise you: rubberwood. After a rubber tree has spent years producing latex, the tree itself can be harvested for lumber and turned into furniture, flooring and other wood products. From the rubber tree to the rubber boot — and eventually to the lumberyard — we'll explore the history and modern uses of this surprisingly versatile material. Listen to All About Home Construction Saturday mornings at 8 AM on WATA, and wherever you get your podcasts. Have a question for Randy and Terry? Send it to us during the week, and it could become part of a future show.
Embed this episode
No transcript yet.