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Chemically speaking, how is natural rubber different from plastic while still having such similar properties?
by chmod600 3y ago
Chemically speaking, how is natural rubber different from plastic while still having such similar properties?
- kylebenzle 3y agoGreat question! Its super simple, it is ONLY the length of the hydrocarbon chain, a better quality natural rubber has really long chains (10,000+ atoms long) that last a LONG time and are VERY stretchy. Synthetic rubber (or plastic) is shorter (1,000 atoms long) and doesn't last as long. Thats it, it is the exact same "product" just a chain that gets longer and longer and changes its physical properties as it grows.
- traveler01 3y agoNoob here, but aren’t the best tires made from natural rubber? Or am I mistaken?
- spqr0a1 3y agoIt's more than just the chain length. The most common synthetic rubbers are styrene-butadiene copolymers. Natural rubber is polyisoprene. While it is true that shorter chain synthetic polyisoprene is available, it is a much smaller part of the market than styrene-butadiene.
- dpeckett 3y agoDoes look like both natural and synthetic polyisoprene is at-least somewhat biodegradeable: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC92035/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC92035/
- alt227 3y agoGenuinely interested here. If natural rubber and plastic are exactly the same thing, then why is natural rubber being advocated as a much more environmentally sound alternative? Would'nt the dust from natural rubber tyres be just as problematic as the plastic is now?
- crazygringo 3y agoYes this is exactly my question as well. Is the dust just as bad for the environment, but natural rubber wears more slowly due to the longer chains? Or is the dust somehow a less harmful kind of dust?
- igravious 3y agonatural = good; synthetic = bad (◔_◔)