Where does this come from, and can I check it?

Heating rubber with sulphur cross links its chains, so it stays elastic in heat and no longer turns brittle in cold. The figure is taken from Britannica, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.

Is this really a technology fact?

Yes. It sits on the Technology shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.

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The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.

Mondo Knows Facts

Vulcanisation stopped rubber going sticky

Heating rubber with sulphur cross links its chains, so it stays elastic in heat and no longer turns brittle in cold Charles Goodyear found the effect in 1839 after years of failed experiments, and the sulphur bridges between polymer chains are what make the material useful. The discovery made tyres, hoses and waterproof clothing practical. Thomas Hancock in Britain took out an earlier patent on a similar process, and the two men spent years in dispute. It sits in Mondo's technology collection, one of 200 facts that each trace back to the reference below.

Where this comes from

Britannica

Facts that can change over time are reviewed and updated. If something here looks wrong, Mondo would rather know than be confidently incorrect.

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Rubber vulcanisation creates chemical sulphur crosslinks between polymer chainsHeating natural rubber latex with sulphur yields heat-resistant elastic tyres A rubber band stretches because its molecules uncoilVulcanised latex chains straighten under load and snap back when released Bakelite was the first plastic made entirely by peopleLeo Baekeland combined phenol with formaldehyde in 1907 to make a hard resin that would not melt again Kevlar came out of a search for lighter tyresStephanie Kwolek's 1965 aramid solution spun into fibres five times stronger than steel by weight Table tennis bats have two different rubber surfacesPlayers flip the bat to hide which side is about to strike the ball Float glass is poured onto molten tinAlastair Pilkington's process lets molten glass spread on a metal bath, giving flat sheets with no grinding needed

Tags: materials, rubber, chemistry

Vulcanisation stopped rubber going sticky: the short answers

Where does this come from, and can I check it?: Heating rubber with sulphur cross links its chains, so it stays elastic in heat and no longer turns brittle in cold. The figure is taken from Britannica, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
Is this really a technology fact?: Yes. It sits on the Technology shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
What else can I read about it?: The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.