1950s B.F. Goodrich Rubber Products Promotions Film by John Sutherland 50884

I know what you're thinking. I've already posted this, right?

Well, sort of.

That already-posted video was 10 1/2 minutes long. This one is almost 17 minutes and contains some extra content. It's sort of like a director's cut versus the original release.

We still get the 'what makes a ball bounce' opening (though the edit misses a line or two) and the horribly offensive 'Japanese' sun at 4:00.

At 6:30, though, we take an entirely new field trip to the artificial rubber lab to see how polymers are made - 'tree rubber', man-made rubber, and Geon. For example, we see vinegar being added to man-made rubber (kind of like our latex/bouncy ball lab in the summer camp) to produce a really messy clump of rubber balls.

The various animations - world war II, the monomers being ordered around by the 'Sargent' catalyst - at 9:00 - and the plasticizer's exaggerated curves at 9:40.

There is a couple of minutes of new content around 11:30 showing off new applications of synthetic rubber (drilling hoses, v-belts (?), lifting cars, insulated rubber boots, swim caps - perfect for smoking by the pool apparently, airplane de-icers, tubeless tires).

But we still close with - in spite of learning 'how to make a plane fly faster than sound...to create new products and materials...even [to] split the atom' -  not knowing what makes a ball bounce.

The Problem With Concrete

That concrete block is so cute with the two pipe cleaner arms and the boxing gloves beating the snot out of...

WAIT A MINUTE! Is that concrete block beating up Earth?!?!

Yup...concrete - as the video appropriately points out, actually cement - is awful for our environment because of the CO2 that is released in the use of fossil fuels to initially heat the calcium carbonate and the CO2 that is released as the calcium carbonate decomposes into calcium oxide.

Yup...more stuff that's bad for our environment.

Luckily, this video does suggest a few possible alternatives.

How a Hockey Puck is Made

Corny joke at...wait, where's the corny joke?

I don't know that I can ever trust How It's Made again if they're not going to include their signature corny joke in the segment.

"Certain minerals" (at 0:38) is way too vague for me. I want to know which minerals.

That 'carbon black filler' (at 1:11) looks dangerously powdery. I hope the workers are wearing correct PPE.

I am consistently amazed at how much of the manufacturing process is done by hand.

Carbon Fiber - The Materials Of The Future?

The rocket animation shown around 1:00 looks pretty hokey to me, though the concept is pretty outstanding.

I was speaking to a former student of mine who now works as an engineer in the aircraft industry. She said that one of the major issues with the carbon fiber laminates being used in airplane bodies nowadays is going to be the lack of recyclability after the plane's usable lifespan.

In this video we get a brief history of how carbon fibers are made, the initial uses of and driving forces for development carbon fibers, an explanation of the directional strength of the composite material, the general procedure of curing the laminate, and a quick look at SpaceX's use of carbon fiber composite laminate in its reusable fuel tank.

It lacks a bit in the 'how it's made' first steps, but it's a great overview of how carbon fiber works, its strengths and weaknesses.