What are American footballs made of?
American footballs take leather, sewing thread, vulcanized rubber and PVC directly. Trace them back and you pass 35 made things on the way to 18 raw materials.
How American footballs are made See it on the map
What goes straight in
From the ground: 18 raw materials
- Cattle hide through leather
- Rock salt through leather
- Water through PVC
- Natural rubber latex through vulcanized rubber
- Sulfur through vulcanized rubber
- Limestone through leather, chromium
- Chromite through leather, chromium
- Air through leather, chromium
- Crude oil through vulcanized rubber, carbon black
- Natural gas through PVC, ethylene
- Iron ore through PVC, pigment
- Coal through leather, chromium, aluminum
- Trona through leather, chromium, soda ash
- Titanium ore through PVC, pigment, titanium dioxide
- Corn through leather, chromium, soda ash, carbon dioxide
- Bauxite through leather, chromium, aluminum, alumina
- Sugarcane through leather, chromium, soda ash, carbon dioxide, baker's yeast, molasses
- Sugar beet through leather, chromium, soda ash, carbon dioxide, baker's yeast, molasses
Made along the way: 31 things
Metals 4
Chemicals and fuels 22
QuicklimeCarbon blackEthyleneChlorinePigmentPlasticizerSoda ashNaphthaBenzeneStyreneSulfuric acidTitanium dioxidePropyleneAmmoniaCarbon dioxidePetroleum cokePara-xyleneEthylene glycolHydrogenTolueneOxygen gasCaustic soda