1. HELLO EUROPEAN FRIENDS
FROM ECO SCHOOLS!
WE ARE THE STUDENTS OF 8ºA OF JOSE
REGIO SCHOOL AND THIS IS OUR
CHRISTMAS CORK POSTCARD FOR YOU!
HOPE YOU ENJOY IT!

7. Cork
Cork is a material of plant bark (suber) of cork
oak (Quercus suber), with great insulating
power.
The first cork stripping occurs usually when
the tree reaches 25 to 30 years, with the
extraction occurs in the months of June to
August. This cork, sometimes with
considerable thickness, is called virgin and
differs substantially from production cork
extracted in the following periods:
acted
“secundeira” is called the second run and
amadia runs or in subsequent extractions. The cork
amadia is of higher quality and is therefore more valuable, and one that can
be used for the manufacture of stoppers. From this stage, the cork is extracted every nine
stage,
years. With hot days in anticipation of the summer, begins the stripping
of the cork. The protective skin is removed from the tree trunk. The
quality of of the cork, will depend on the quality of the tree. The process
consists in opening, drawing and extracting the cork.
onsists
Today, cork is a prime raw material whose use extends to various uses
such as the floor coverings, insulation (thermal and acoustic),
manufacturer of musical instruments in home furnishings, footwear and
components for various industry segments automotive, beverages,
masonry construction, decoration, among others.
Portugal, with an area of 730 thousand hectares of cork oak forests, is responsible for over
50% of the world's cork. Other producers are Spain, southern France, southern Italy, most
Spain,
recently Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia.
Technological development and application of new techniques, including management, led to
vertical integration of some processing operations of cork.
Cork has also been used for the discovery of the cell (for the discovery of the word cell,
r
because what the scientist saw was not actually the cell). In 1665, Robert Hooke used thin
slices of cork under his microscope and visualized something like "honeycombs" and gave it
the name cécula, swearing to have seen "the cell".

8. WE WISH YOU ALL A
MERRY CHRISTMAS
AND A HAPPY NEW
YEAR OF 2013!!