Why do fishing lures react with each other (ie. What is the exact reaction going on here ? )?

Question

Rubber artificial lures stored together end up melting into a mass due to some chemical reaction. What is the reaction that is occurring here ?

Answer 1

Could it be you're leaving them in your hot car too long and they are actually melting from heat rather than any complex chemical reaction?

Answer 2

For the same reason you don't put on your parking brake when you put your car in long-term storage.

Molecules are in constant random motion.  When two substances are in contact, then molecules from one substance can migrate into the other, and vice versa, creating a blend of the two substances at the interface.

With rubber, we take it a step further.  Rubber is just barely a solid.  You might say it is a very, very viscous liquid.  As a quasi-liquid, it will "flow" right into the rubber in contact with it.  All this "flowing" results in a big "solution" of rubber.

It's not so much a chemical reaction, as it is physical process.