2006-10-06 04:02:23 · 11 answers · asked by dan m 1 in Cars & Transportation ➔ Other - Cars & Transportation
I wondered about this myself for a long time. Turns out, amazingly, there are microbes that 'eat' the tire residue. I know it sounds crazy, but it is true!
2006-10-06 04:05:33 · answer #1 · answered by The Oldest Man In The World 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you were at a racetrack, you could actually feel the chunks of rubber hitting you. Passenger cars and trucks lose rubber in much smaller pieces. Those pieces blow to the side of the road and mix in with the soil and grass. Eventually, sunlight erodes the pieces away to various gases and microscopic particles
2006-10-06 11:06:26 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
i own repair shop,and we had this question 30 some years ago in shop class,it wears off so slow that it isn't noticed,and most of it is washed off the road ways every time it rains and just becomes a part of the fill that's on the sides of the road or flows off in to the ground,,sometimes you can see signs of it on curves and really sharp turns on some roads for the most of it just vanishes,if you see a old road the kind of looks a little shiny that will be some of it that has worn in to the road surface other wise we never really see it or know its there,good luck i hope this help,s.
2006-10-06 11:14:44 · answer #3 · answered by dodge man 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In and around Orlando (Florida) you can see the road surface is about half inch thicker at most stop lights due to oil/rubber residue. I guess its a long term pollution problem
2006-10-06 11:10:11 · answer #4 · answered by 1crazypj 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Some tires are recapped with new rubber and used by trucks and most are ground up and used for blacktop on our highways and driveways.
2006-10-06 11:05:17 · answer #5 · answered by mailbox1024 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Great question! I'm assuming that most highways are made thicker year after year by tire rubber, but I truly do not know - God bless!
2006-10-06 11:05:21 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Some of it actually breaks down into airborn molecules. We breath it. It can be very hard on asthmatics.
Read "The Secret Life of Dust" by Hannah Holmes.
2006-10-06 11:05:24 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
It wears off on the road and in the air little by little. You just can't see it because it is such an infinitesimal amount.
2006-10-06 11:04:28 · answer #8 · answered by mojo2093@sbcglobal.net 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Well dear, I tell my grandchildren, that the fairy ball-makers gather it all up when it gets dark.
2006-10-06 11:04:52 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It is recycled and used for other things. For example most running tracks are made from recycled tires.
2006-10-06 11:04:31 · answer #10 · answered by needhelp 3 · 0⤊ 3⤋