Discover Archeology
Craftsmen
in ancient Mexico figured out the chemistry that puts the bounce
in rubber balls at least 3,500 years before Charles Goodyear invented
the technique for vulcanizing rubber in 1839. Mesoamericans were
playing with bouncy rubber balls and holding ax heads to handles
with rubber bands at least by 1600 B.C.
Prehistoric
rubber artifacts from Mexico are too old and brittle for reliable
chemical analysis. Dorothy Hosler and colleagues at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology unraveled the ancient formula with help
from rubber workers in Chiapas, Mexico, who still use traditional
methods of processing the latex sap from local rubber trees.
The latex,
as it comes from the tree, dries to a hard, brittle substance.
The secret is to mix the raw, sticky latex with juice extracted
from a morning glory vine. The juice changes the linkage among
polymers in the latex to produce a tough, elastic rubber - and
a ball that bounces.
Pre-Columbian
Mexican cultures used rubber balls for a wildly popular game that
involved getting the ball through hoops. Ball courts are found
throughout Mesoamerica.
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