Where does all the rubber that wears off of tires go and what, if any, is the impact?

Question

Every year on millions of cars, millions of tires wear down by tiny fractions of an inch until the tire tread is reduced to unusability. That rubber is dispersed across roadways and into the air. This must add up to millions of pounds of rubber dispersed into the air and on the ground every year. Where does the rubber end up? Does it all get washed into reservours and streams? Does it physically or chemically bind with other materials? Does it degrade chemically or is it relatively inert? What, if any, impact is there for all the rubber particles and microparticles that are rubbed off tires when "the rubber mets the road"? After all we've got about a century's worth of accumulation.

Answer 1

You can see rubbed off rubber patches wherever cars skid - skid marks are
everywhere. The rubber tends to stick to the road, or gradually blow off as
dust. I do not honestly think anyone has ever thought about the environmental
effects of rubber dust, but I could be wrong. A much bigger problem is what
to do with the tires after the tread wears off. And the exhaust gasses from
cars probably have a bigger environmental impact than rubber dust. One thing
you can do with old tires is to recycle them into asphalt and use it to pave
roads - then you not only have tires on the road but IN the road too.
Here is a book to check out: "Highway Pollution", by Ronald S. Hamilton and
Roy M. Harrison, 1991.

Answer 2

I would have to say or believe that the rubber would to a recycling place or even a land field where it is buried wayyyyyyyy down under the ground. i would some one would be smart enough not to leave or put the rubber into a stream of water where the fish are and their habitat , then or if they did we'd all be in a bigger mess still, cause some of folks out here eat the fish. Does that mean we will all some day be rubber fish and bounce haha, well hope not . Seriously speaking though there's needs to be someone to find out what happens after it goes to the land field i know that don't burn cause of the scent, or odor , it smells badly when those tires get burned. I just have to believe that they are buried like i said . The land field in my state charges around $1.00 - $5.00 I believe to take them their other wise there would be no where to take them to unless they are taken across seas on ones big ships or trains .

Answer 3

During normal driving, the tires wear ever so slightly. After all, most tires will last for 50,000 miles or more. Thats alot of miles for less than 1 inch of tread that gets rubbed off. So the amount that is rubbed off on any particular part of roadway is very miniscule. Of course, when millions of tires pass over one spot each hour, it can show. That is why you will see a darker section on each side of a lane (where the tires roll) on major highways even when noone has skidded there.

Rubber binds with the concrete when it is hot (its "stickiness"). Tires are very hot when your skidding (brakes locked), hence you can always spot a skid mark. But when you drive normally, tires are still somewhat hot (helping them stick to the road better which we equate with better handling/grip). So a small about is rubbing off, but again its miniscule.

Since most roads are resurfaced after 10-20 years, you will not see many pitch-black tire marks from normal wear. But if you peeled back the layers and added them all up, I bet you would.

Answer 4

Rubber is a good thing. We walk on it. We cruse on it in many different ways. We use it to erase things we do not want. We even use it to reduce the population growth of nations, although sometimes a strong swimmer will triumph over it.

. Rubber goes where we go when we die, nowhere and everywhere. All things are moving and changing all the time. All things are deteriorating, evolving if you wish, but nothing disappears. Things just change form and science is the place for those definitions.

. "The rubber meets the road" is a great saying...means lets get going. I think I will.

Enjoy life and remember to wear your rubbers in the rain...

Answer 5

a factory over in NY just acroosed from where i live ( i live in Vermont ) was going to use tires to fuel the facotry and blow that black smoke into the air...how stupid are these people? they wanted to do that because its a cheap way to go to burn tires from the trash or even recycled tires which is all good but you cant blow it out into the air we breath. Im glad they voted against this project because the air up here in Vt is mostly clean ( not clean enough though ) and there would have been a huge demonstrations against the company..i would have been there too.

There is no real good way to get rid of old tires, they end up in landfields burried in dirt and left to sink into the planets ground, the dirt we grow stuff from....it really sucks all the way around and i think we need to compromise and build less of cars and share rides a lot ore then epople are willing to......TAKE A TRAIN, TAKE A BUS, SHARE A RIDE...I WISH PEOPLE WULD CHANGE THEIR WAY OF THINKING AHEAD FOR MOTHER NATURES SAKE AND OURS AS WELL.

Answer 6

Some of it burns, and leaves tire tracks on the street. Some peels off. I've seen pieces of tire at times, that looked like it was the tread, peeled off. I don't know the chemical impact on the environment, ot whatever, but it does come off. If you were to drive an train tracks with flat tires, the tires would whittle off, till all you had were the brakes and hubs, and in essence you'd have train tires, that way. I saw movie once, in which that happened. But the hero got on the train he was trying to catch up to, before another train hit the car, which he stole.

Answer 7

great airplane tires are made up of rubber, steel belts, etc like a vehicle tire. they are inflated with organic nitrogen to approximately 200 pounds per sq. inch (13 a million/2 atmospheres). they ought to get replaced fantastically often, like each and every 4 hundred flights, as they positioned on heavily with each and each touchdown. A 747 has sixteen significant kit tires (an A380 has 18). The 747-8 will weigh 970,000 pounds at max takeoff weight. this is (ignoring nostril kit) approximately 60,000 pounds per tire. At 200 pounds per sq. inch, then, each and each tire needs to have 3 hundred sq. inches on the floor. The tires are particularly great- approximately fifty two inch diameter- and over a foot huge with the intention to have that vast a footprint.

Answer 8

Have you observe when you use eraser?That is the way how the rubber tire melted out!It remains on the concrete road then washed away by the rain or bad weather strong wind and yes if not in the ground or soil it is in the air!

Answer 9

It eventually washes off the road. Ever seen a car that sits around for years without being driven and left outside? The tires will eventually dry rot and become a powder. Just like on the road, it's particulate littering.

Answer 10

The rubber in which is off your shoes, tires etc. doesn't disappear. To the human eye yes it does but it is minimized very small to where our eyes can not pick it up. There fore we think its gone. That's half the reason today water is being polluted. After they have shrunk in down they are washed away by rain, street cleaners, hoses, etc. and into our drainers that leak out into the water in which we drink. But the machines do not pick up the rubber. SO GUESS WHAT............. YOUR DRINKING RUBBER!!!