Rubber trees are amazing because they produce a milky white liquid called latex that oozes out whenever the bark gets a scratch or cut. Rubber trees originally came from the rainforests of South America, but today most of them grow in Southeast Asia.
The milky latex is collected and mixed with special ingredients to make it stretchy and strong. Then it is used to make bouncy balls, car tires, rain boots, rubber ducks, balloons, and even the erasers on your pencils! It takes about five rubber trees to make enough latex each year for just one set of car tires.
- Ancient people in Central America were the first to figure out how to use this stretchy, bouncy material over 3,000 years ago!
- Before people knew about rubber trees, there was no such thing as rubber bands or rubber balls.
- The latex drips out of the tree kind of like how maple syrup is collected!
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