Word: rubbers
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Dates: during 1920-1929
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...Material. Biggest quest: Rubber. Blocked in the Philippines by adverse land laws, Harvey Firestone is pushing forward with new plantations in Liberia; Henry Ford has six thousand square miles for rubber production in Brazil; the U. S. Rubber Co.'s plantations in Sumatra and Malaya have grown from 14,000 acres to 135,000 acres in 18 years of production...
...inelasticity of rubber is useful-in motor car tires, bumpers, airplane shock absorber cords-because it absorbs considerable of the energy which stretches it and transforms that absorbed energy into heat. That is why a continually flexing, moving tire is hot. Pull (not slide) a rubber band between closed lips. The lips can feel the heat. Pull (not slide) a piece of steel similarly (a machine is necessary), the steel will cool...
...Rubber is a complex hydrocarbon. Fundamental in its composition is isoprene. The organic chemist can make isoprene from such common stuffs as turpentine, petroleum, starch, coal tar or acetylene. News of goldenrod as a likely rubber source gave the casual daily press opportunity to picture farmers sneezing as they harvested the autumn-gorgeous weed. But goldenrod pollen is one of the lesser causes of hayfever. Ragweed, more widespread, is the chief cause...
...There may be other rubber weeds. Mr. Edison has found traces of rubber in 1,200 U. S. plants, of 16,000 he has examined...
...Cheapest (English) artificial rubber, made from hydrocarbons, costs...