How Chewing Gum Are Made..

While the specific ingredients in gum might be a secret, the process for making gum is not. The first chewing gum making machine wasn't even patented, and today the procedure is considered standard throughout the industry.

Preparing the chicle

• 1 If natural latex is to be used, it must first be harvested and processed. The tall 32.79 yard (30-meter) chicle tree is scored with a series of shallow Xs, enabling the chicle to flow down into a bucket. After a significant


The Manufacturing Process

Chewing gum base consists either of natural latex or a synthetic substitute. Natural latex such as chicle is harvested by making large X-marks on rubber trees and then collecting the substance as it runs down the tree. After grinding the base to form a coarse meal, the mixture is dryed for a day or two.
Next, the mixture is heated in large kettles while the other ingredients are added. Large machines then pummel, or "knead," the mass until it is properly smooth and rubbery, and it is put on a rolling slab and reduced to the proper thickness.
Amount of chicle has accumulated, it is strained and placed in large kettles. Stirred constantly, it is boiled until it reduces to two-thirds of its original volume. It is then poured into greased wooden molds and shipped.

Grinding, mixing, and drying the latex
• 2 The natural and/or artificial gum bases are first ground into a coarse meal and mixed to ensure uniform consistency. The blend is then placed in a warm room to dry for a day or two. During drying, hot air continually passes over the mixture.

Cooking and purifying the base
• 3 Next, the gum base is cooked in kettles at 243 degrees Fahrenheit (116 degrees Celsius) until it has melted into a thick syrup. To purify it, workers pass it through screens and place it in a high speed centrifuge before refiltering it, this time through finer screens.

Blending additional ingredients
• 4 The gum base is now ready for additives. It is placed in kettles to be cooked, and additional ingredients are stirred in by large steel blades. First, extremely fine powdered sugar and corn syrup are added. Flavorings are added next, followed by softeners. When the mixture is smooth enough, it is rolled out onto belts and cooled by being exposed to cold air.

Kneading and rolling the gum
• 5 The next step is kneading. For several hours machines gently pummel the mass



After being dusted with powdered sugar, the gum is scored into a pattern of rectangles, seasoned, and broken into sticks. The gum is now ready to be packaged and shipped to retail outlets of chewing gum until it is properly rubbery and smooth. Large chunks are then chopped off the mass, to be flattened by rollers until they reach the proper thickness of nearly .17 inches (about .43 cm). During this process, the sheet of chewing gum is dusted with powdered sugar to prepare it for cutting.

Cutting and seasoning the gum
• 6 A cutting machine first scores the sheet in a pattern of rectangles, each 1.3 inches (3.3 centimeters) long and .449 of an inch (1.14 centimeters) wide. The sheet is then put aside at the proper temperature and humidity to "season."

Packaging the gum
• 7 Once seasoned, the gum sheets are broken into sticks, wrapped in aluminum foil or wax paper, wrapped in paper, and put into plastic packs that are then sealed. Put into boxes or plastic bags, the gum is ready to be shipped to retail outlets.

Transistors

A transistor is a semiconductor device, commonly used as an amplifier or an electrically controlled switch. The transistor is the fundamental building block of the circuitry that governs the operation of computers, cellular phones, and all other modern electronics.

Because of its fast response and accuracy, the transistor may be used in a wide variety of digital and analog functions, including amplification, switching, voltage regulation, signal modulation, and oscillators. Transistors may be packaged individually or as part of an integrated circuit, which may hold a billion or more transistors in a very small area.

Introduction

Modern transistors are divided into two main categories: bipolar junction transistors (BJTs) and field effect transistors (FETs). Application of current in BJTs and voltage in FETs between the input and common terminals increases the conductivity between the common and output terminals, thereby controlling current flow between them. The transistor characteristics depend on their type. See Transistor models.

The term "transistor" originally referred to the point contact type, but these only saw very limited commercial application, being replaced by the much more practical bipolar junction types in the early 1950s. Today's most widely used schematic symbol, like the term "transistor", originally referred to these long-obsolete devices.[1] For a short time in the early 1960s, some manufacturers and publishers of electronics magazines started to replace these with symbols that more accurately depicted the different construction of the bipolar transistor, but this idea was soon abandoned.

Types

- Bipolar junction transistor
- Field-effect transistor
- Heterojunction Bipolar Transistor
- Tetrode transistor
- Pentode transistor
- Spacistor
- Surface barrier transistor
- Micro alloy transistor
- Micro alloy diffused transistor
- Drift-field transistor
- Unijunction transistors
- Darlington transistors
- Insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs)

Usage

- Switches
- Amplifiers
- Computers