What is rubber used for? Is it a plastic?
Rubber can stretch and shrink，it can also contain gases. It is an insulator, which means that it does not conduct electricity.
Classification
Natural rubber
Natural rubber is a very special polymer, originating as it does from nature. The rubber trees (Hevea brasiliensis) are tapped every day, and approximately 30% of the sap collected consists of rubber (called latex). Latex is a milky fluid; a mixture of proteins and water-saturated rubber particles.
Synthetic rubber
Synthetic rubber is made from components of crude oil, bonded together using a chemical process to form a synthetic polymer (rubber). It was developed in the US as an alternative to natural rubber when that commodity became scarce.
One of the best-known types of synthetic rubber is SBR rubber, which is used for the production of car tires, among other things. Other synthetic rubber polymers include EPDM, NBR, and FKM (Viton).
Uses of rubber
Rubber molded products are widely used industrially (and in some household applications) in the form of rubber goods and appliances. Rubber is used in garden hoses and pipes for small-scale gardening applications. Most of the tires and tubes used in automobiles are made up of rubber. Rubber plays a very important role in the automobile industry[2] and the transportation industry. Rubber products are also employed in matting and flooring applications.
is rubber a plastic?
Rubber is in a class of materials known as elastomers, most of which are plastics. However, rubber and plastic aren't the same. A typical plastic has a structure with long chains connecting while also holding on to smaller atoms. Rubber doesn't have this structure, instead of holding on to only small digits or occasionally none. This gives it different properties than plastic, making it special compared to other rubbers like nitrile and butyl rubber.
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