To sit and observe the world as it is today can serve as a reminder to all about how much of an effect people can have on the world around them and for centuries to come. The world is constantly changing, yet one thing remains the same. In order to change and grow, we need each other. We need competition and collaboration between individuals, states, countries, and nations in order to expand and grow our ideas and concepts. This type of collective learning has been around since the beginning of time. Cultures pass down their traditions from one generation to the next, and learn from one another. It is through these ideas and concepts that we will look at the history of the eraser, how it came to be, and how it changed society for eternity. …show more content…
(Madan). For this art to be discovered black substance that was thought to be lead would need to be found. This mineral began its use as marking sheep, until someone realized this mineral could serve as so much more than for marking sheep. The form of writing had been changed, people started chipping this mineral into stick looking forms, wrapping them in twine, and carrying the around with them. This new innovation would be named plumbago, Latin for lead (Madan) and would be used to draw. However, this lead was never lead, but graphite. One problem with this innovation is it did not contain a way to eliminate these marks, except for morsels of bread from your lunch. This innovation would also advance more by sticking the mineral in between two pieces of wood. From this the popularity would explode with merchants constantly announcing how desperately you need this instrument. Scholars and even artists began using this technological innovation allowing for the need of something to get rid of these marks. Now that the pencil was created the eraser could start …show more content…
Erasers like everything have changed over time, from moistened balled up bread to a chemical compound object. The first eraser was perishable, moistened, uncrusted bread. However, this eraser would start to disintegrate and rot (Garber). This problem would later be solved, rubber was found to erase pencil by a scientific instrument maker named Edward Nairne (Lovejoy). However, this discovery did not happen in a lab, but rather due to him picking up a piece of rubber rather than the commonly used bread. This rubber was extremely sensitive to temperature changes and would harden in the cold. In order for the eraser to grow in popularity, vulcanization needed to occur. This process included intensely heating natural latex found in rubber trees (figure 2), with sulfur, a combustible, non metal, chemical element, as it shows on the periodic table (figure 3). Using sulfur creates the elasticity that is commonly found in the eraser. Instead of the chemicals “blending” together they combine to create cross-links between the sulfur and polymer chains (“Rubber and Vulcanization”).
This process was discovered in 1839 by inventor, and self-taught chemist, Charles Goodyear (The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica). Due to vulcanization the basics of the eraser had been developed, and what to do with the eraser could advance immensely, and so too its