2006-10-15 23:35:31 · 4 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Botany
The viscous sap tapped from rubber trees is called LATEX. It is a sap-like extract but it is not sap which can be collected and is the primary source of natural rubber.
Latex, as found in nature, is the milky sap of many plants that coagulates on exposure to air. It is a complex emulsion in which proteins, alkaloids, starches, sugars, oils, tannins, resins and gums are found. In most plants latex is white, but some have yellow, orange, or scarlet latex.
The yellow or white latex from which rubber is made occurs in numerous specialized latex vessels in the bark, especially outside the phloem. The tree is tapped by making careful incisions, as deep as possible without injuring the tree's growth, in a herringbone pattern or often in a lefthand spiral of 30° around the trunk, for the latex vessels spiral to the right at an angle of about 30° from the horizontal. The latex is collected in small cups and then treated—usually by coagulating it with acid, pressing it free of water, and drying the resultant sheets in a smokehouse to ready them for shipment.
Latex is believed to function in plants as a form of stored food, while others consider it an excretory product in which waste products of the plant are deposited. Others believe it protects the plant in case of injuries and it may provide some protection against browsing animals, since in some plants latex is very bitter or even poisonous.
Latex is used in to make rubber, clothing, paint, base for chewing gum (Chicle). Poppy latex is a source of opium and its many derivatives.
(Such tapped and treated latex from a rubber tree smells so offensive as far as I can remember.)♥
2006-10-16 00:07:53 · answer #1 · answered by ♥ lani s 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
The viscous sap tapped from rubber trees is latex.
Latex, as found in nature, is the milky sap of many plants that coagulates on exposure to air. It is a complex emulsion in which proteins, alkaloids, starches, sugars, oils, tannins, resins and gums are found. In most plants latex is white, but some have yellow, orange, or scarlet latex.
The word also refers to the thin stretchy material obtained by processing the sap (see Latex clothing, below). It can also be made synthetically by polymerizing a monomer that has been emulsified with surfactants.
Latex has been attributed to many plant functions. Some regard it as a form of stored food, while others consider it an excretory product in which waste products of the plant are deposited. Still others believe it functions to protect the plant in case of injuries; drying to form a protective layer that prevents the entry of fungi and bacteria. Similarly, it may provide some protection against browsing animals, since in some plants latex is very bitter or even poisonous. It may be that latex fulfills all of these functions to varying degrees in the numerous plant species in which it occurs.
Latex has many uses, from clothing to paint, but its first and foremost is rubber. Chicle, widely used as a base for chewing gum, is another latex product. Latex paint uses synthetic latex as a binder, which is not flammable, has little odor, and cures to form a dry paint film. Finally, poppy latex is a source of opium and its many derivatives.
2006-10-16 05:53:48 · answer #2 · answered by babitha t 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
the viscous sap is rubber only,,,,,, but it is raw material for preparing that rubber which we generally used
2006-10-15 23:38:28 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Latex
2006-10-16 00:42:27 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋