Rubber
9 posts
A More Fun Ride
Jan Heine on the physics of pneumatic tires, the rise of gravel cycling, and his role in the bike industry.…
On Pneumatic Tires.
Pneumatic tires were invented (and then promptly forgotten) in 1846. Then, they became perhaps the quintessential twentieth-century transportation technology.…
On Naphtha
How naphtha -- one of the first fossil fuel derivatives ever made -- played a key role in the commercialization of rubber.…
On Vulcanization
On Charles Goodyear and the unlikely discovery of the vulcanization process.…
A Supply Chain in the Jungle
How did Foxconn arrive at the inaccessible heart of the Amazon rainforest?…