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The World's Strongest Glue
missing_myself writes "Yahoo news reports the world's strongest glue is made by bacteria. "The adhesive can withstand an enormous amount of stress, equal to the force felt by a quarter with more than three cars piled on top of it." Time to get rid of the duct tape? "
Blasphemy!
And does it dissolve after being exposed to air?
Stop the world; I need to get off.
Or something close... it was alive and sticky, that's for sure.
If it's that sticky, how do we ever get it out of the bottle?
On another note, this stuff would would really make the old glue-friend's-hand-to-forehead-or-other-body-part prank very painful...
How much do you want to bet that the glue only lives up to these claims on one substance in the entire universe ... dry human skin (i.e. fingers)?
Horses everywhere rejoice.
My chair is so covered in duct/duck tape due to the armrests falling off that nobody but me will sit it in. Get rid of duct/duck tape? I think not!
This will mark the end of grandmas loosing their dentures while skydiving.
Maybe that explains why I get so crusty when I don't shower for several days at a time.
Any ideas?
Have gnu, will travel.
I'd never heard of this new "cars/quarter" unit (invented by the same guy who gave us the LoC unit, presumably), so I had to look it up to see that this glue can hold around 10,000 psi (70,000 kPa).
Ewige Blumenkraft.
"One possibility would be as a biodegradable surgical adhesive."
Now I can see surgical scissors being left in your abdomen and crazy-glued to your internal organs.
I'm sure Elmer will say they have a patent on sticking one thing to another. Or maybe that was the Porn Industry's patent.
I recall (from my Dungeons n dragons times) that there was some kind of super-glue and some kind of super-oil. You needed the super-oil to apply it into the superglue bottle so it wouldn't stick.
Taking into account that the researchers are having problems with getting the glue off the instruments they use to fabricate it, perhaps we do need a super-oil in this case.
(And fact is stranger than fiction once more!)
An Idea I just came up with is that the superglue could be embedded inside small (nano? hmmm) particles that can be disolved with water or something, kinda like M&M's (melts in your mouth, not in your hands).
Yes, that's fine.
But, how do I get the top off the freaking bottle??
How many escape pods are there? "NONE,SIR!" You counted them? "TWICE, SIR!"
"There are obvious applications since this adhesive works on wet surfaces,"
"We tried washing the glue off," Brun said. "It didn't work."
Rod Taylor
I think the first thing they need to develop is the super super glue remover, otherwise the "hyper glue" would be too dangerous to use. Or they could use it in the ads: "Our Hyper Glue -NEVER- comes off, EVER!"
"Jeremy, you need to get to an internet cafe and cut and paste some appropriate sentiments about me from the world wide
Who cares how much weight it can handle piled on it?
We want to know how much weight it can handle suspended from it.
"We reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals." --The American President (20.1.2009)
Apparently something similar happened with Teflon too. The engineers at Dupont spent a very long time trying to get it to adhere to various surfaces. Teflon is so non-sticky that it took them years to get it to stick to metal pots and pans. Finally they came up with techniques of multiple layering and various methods to bake it on. More at http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a4_173.html
Three cars per quarter? I don't get it. How much is that in Eiffel Towers per square millicubit?
"Time to get rid of the duct tape?"
Get rid of it?! No way! I say improve it. Imagine duct tape combined with this supersuperglue. My God, it'd be like Astroboy and Atlas working together to defeat a common foe!
Or something.
"quarter with more than three cars piled on top of it" Can any one convert this to libraries of congress/volkswagen beetles?
Yeah, - Dissolves in air, in moisture, in direct sunlight, and on Tuesdays tea time.
But except for that, what has the worlds strongest glue provided us...?
Hey dad, do you have any industrial strength adhesive I can use on my face?
I shall alert my lawyers as I can prove prior art out of my nose!
Would the force change if 3 cars were piled onto a surface that was 1 square meter - no....
Well, if there's more surface area, then there's a wider distribution of weight and the pressure per square inch would diminish.
But how does it *taste*?
"Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge"
- Charles Darwin
How strong is this glue under tension and shear?
I have an invisible glue here that can withstand an infinite amount of force under compression, and it is massless. Tension is a while 'nother matter.
If I have nothing to hide, don't search me
"The single-celled bacterium uses sugar molecules to stay put in rivers, streams, and water pipes, a new study found."
Now... if I feed it something (like, I guess sugar), would it grow though? Imagine the instructions: "mix with sugar 4:1"...
And further, if I use it to glue a broken sugar bowl, should I expect a self-replicating glue disaster?
"It's not clear how the glue actually works, however, but researchers presume some special proteins must be attached to the sugars."
Well that sounds ensuring, right guys. Reminds me of that movie, The Stuff (1985).
A bunch of scientists like our folks here, discover weird white substance on one of the Earth Poles (please save me the jokes on what you think it was). So naturally, what you think he does? He tastes it, and it's good.
So they just come with the tankers and start pumping it out and selling it as food. Turns out it eats you from the inside and turns you into a zombie.
By the way, has anyone tried to eat that glue and see what it tastes like?
Thought the force is same no matter what it is applied to, no?
F = m*a, anyone?
As in all the proteins near a human beings midsection/buttocks/thighs?
Every mans' island needs an ocean; choose your ocean carefully.
Ah' 'us' wan'ed 'o 'as'e 'hi' ne' g'ue 'u' 'ow ah'm 'huck! he'' me, p'ea'e!
While it's true that the force wouldn't change, that's not the point. It is providing a unit of pressure, not a unit of force.
Pressure = Force / Area.
Therefore, even though the force would remain the same, the MUCH smaller area would cause a MUCH higher pressure.
So now all they have to do is separate it into two chemical subcomponents which can be used in a dispenser like the existing epoxy syringe and we'll actually be able to use it. At least until a nano-tech replacement 10 times stronger is found...
You are checking your backups, aren't you?
Impossible, I tough the toughest glue on earth was an ex-wife sticking her nose on 50% of a man's paycheck!
I mean, the duct-tape has a gummy glue that dries out, the fibrous tape tears easily, has poor high-temperature properties, and is not waterproof. What more could you want?
--- Jason Olshefsky
Karma: Poser (mostly affected by adding this line long after everyone else did)
Digg's starting to repalce /. for me. Less politics. Give it a try.
This guy is way out there
Or even more important:
How are we going to balance 3 cars on a quarter?
Let's build the orbital tether for our space elevator ENTIRELY out of bacterial bio-glue. I mean, presumably the stuff will stick to itself, yes? :-)
/* "Specialization is for insects." -Heinlein */
Indeed for those that really don't get it, try holding your thumb and finger even further apart.
Alternatively try padding your wallet with tissue paper.
Or for the really creative amongst us, become an artist, they get definitely get it.
Slightly more on topic,
The single-celled bacterium uses sugar molecules to stay put in rivers, streams, and water pipes . . .
. . . But making it has proved challenging. Like a mess of chewing gum, the gunk globs to everything, including the tools used to create it.
I seriously hope they have studied the way the bacteria 'removes the glue' to get to other parts of the stream etc., I dunno, but just perhaps that could be a useful field of study, unless of course the bacteria are literally stuck where they are, whether they like the neighbours or not.
I've seen similar comments about the stuff that barnacles glue themselves to ship bottoms with...wonder how this compares?
rj
Something to keep the chairs planted firmly on the floor at Micorsoft!
??? you make no sense. At all.
Then leave.
Just don't come back crying once we bring out the drugs and hookers.
perpetually dwelling in the -1 pits
...Fixed it for ya!
Reason is the Path to God - Anon
... it's what happens when you sniff it.
No Inflation Taxation without Representation
(Flashback to elementary school)
"Hmm, I need some glue. Here we go. 'super' glue. That sounds about right."
(Reading instructions while using glue)
"...bonds instantly with skin..."
(Enthusiasm at finding 'super' glue turns to horror upon realizing that I just glued my hands together.)
This product is going to be fun!
~Ben
I'll bet any amount of money my son will still be able to break all the wheels of his toy cars after I've glued them back on.
All you need in life is determination and a little duct tape.
...
All you need in life is determination and a little bacterial glue.
Something doesn't seem right there
- Adam
The Computations of AdamR
http://www.adamreyher.com
"We tried washing the glue off," Brun said. "It didn't work."
"Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us." -Jesus Christ The Lord's Prayer
"The adhesive can withstand an enormous amount of stress, equal to the force felt by a quarter with more than three cars piled on top of it."
Never, ever, is Stress = Force. They're different units.
Stress = Force/Square Area
Force = Force
And this "stress" it can endure... is it shear stress or tensile stress or compressive stress? Horrible article.
"Nature doesn't care how smart you are. You can still be wrong." - Richard Feynman
that nobody survives an encounter with one, it's hard to judge whether one grue is stronger than another.
Have you been touched by his noodly appendage?
What good is a glue that has a bond stronger than the tensile strength of the substances it is binding together?
Some see the vessel as half full; others see it as half-empty; We pour it out on the floor and laugh
Store product in a safe place when having sex.
The cars on a quarter example is a bit silly too. If you put a quarter on the ground and park a car on it, then you'll get the same pressure as tyre pressure (ie. approx 30 psi) and three times that would be approx 100psi. If you managed to balaance all three cars (~5 tons) so that all their weight was on the quarter, then that would be approx 7 or so tons per square inch which would be quite strong.
Engineering is the art of compromise.
Nuff said.
Super Glue is for wimps.
photosMy Photostream
More bad ideas for pranksters.
Table-ized A.I.
Peace?
Oh well, I'm sure there's some application for this.
I say, Rupert, this paste is quite delicious. It's almost worth the bowel obstruction!
Well, they are using units of "Number of cars on a quarter," so it isn't surprising that they wouldn't try to explain tension and shear. Unfortunatly, that means that this article is just about useless to anyone who does know about the subject.
I guess it is just really hard to write an article that a layperson can understand, and yet have the critical information for someone who is informed. (Probably because the journalists are usually in the layperson category?)
If I have nothing to hide, don't search me
The advantage of the body is that it changes over time. The outer skin layer is composed of dead cells that fall off over time so no matter how powerful the glue, at some point it'll become unstuck because the skin it's attached to has been replaced with new skin.
Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
What did you expect to find here? Ya, Glue is sticky so:
1) Make super-super glue
2) Invent unstick for super super glue
3) profit!
There ya go, business plan!
Bacteria are known to mutate, right?
Some mutations spread uncontrollably, known fact.
Sugar is one of more common substances in the world.
Imagine the world where stepping on the grass means they have to amputate your legs to free you. And the glue infection spreading, things getting gradually more sticky everywhere. Up to the point when everyone is glued to the ground, and everything that moves, stops. Entropic death, no more movement.
I for one welcome our sticky bacterial overlords.
Anagram("United States of America") == "Dine out, taste a Mac, fries"
What good is the shedding of skin cells, Mr Anderson, if you are unable ... to ... breathe?
:)
yes! score one for the mafia cleaners and government interrogators. Excellent torture technique.
Amateurs.
Don't we all wish there was a decent glue that glues what we break the most: PLASTIC?? It seems all those superglues are good at metals but terrible on plastic. I don't break metals often...
Worse, they were talking about "number of cars on a quarter" rather than "number of cars suspended from a quarter", hence the joke about the invisible glue with excellent compressible strength.
I guess it is just really hard to write an article that a layperson can understand,
Even a layperson should know that you don't need glue to put stuff on top of other stuff. Or do you glue your chairs and tables to the floor?
Superglue has already been taken.
I know! They will call it (drumroll)
BACTOBOND!
I have used Duck Tape for several things that it wasn't designed for. It functions well as a electrical tape. It functions as regular tape. It even works for holding the air ducts in the attic together.
But the best application for duct tape is replacing electrical tape in the health care role.
Here is how things happen.
1: "Dang it!"
2: "This is gonna hurt."
3: "Get me a napkin and the duct tape."
4: "I am not going to the hospital while I have a supply of Neosporin, napkins and duct tape."
Come to think of it, if you poured this stuff into a wound and held the gash together, would it stop the bleeding befor the side effects of the glue itself killed you?
Today's show is brought to you by the number 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0: 25
Poor McGuyver. He'll be sorry seeing his trusty roll of ducttape replaced.
"Sarcasm is for *winners*, Alan." - Charlie Harper (Two and a Half Men)
The Quarter is 24.26mm diameter. The 20 Euro cent is only 22.25. It's closer to the 50 Euro cent at 24.25 (And I'm surprised how similar the Euro sizes are (source).
For a UK perspective, it's close to the 10p (or the old shilling/5p) size. Or an Australian or New Zealand 10 cent coin
I'm rubber ... you're Caulobacter Crescentus spit.
It can keep my wife's mouth shut for even just an hour....
If we feed that bacteria to the horse, maybe we can make an even stronger glue.
Think about all the cool katamaris we would do with all these objects sticking to you. And the supreme honour of becoming a star !
I have discovered a truly marvelous proof of killer sig, which this margin is too narrow to contain.
from TFA:
The bacterium Caulobacter crescentus uses the toughest glue on Earth to stick to river rocks, and now scientists are trying to figure out how to produce the stuff.
But isn't it obvious? You'd use bacteria to produce it...
You can have my duct tape when you cut and scrape it off my cold, dead hands.
That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
Bacteria glue - stronger than Gorilla glue??? That's not right!
The adhesive can withstand an enormous amount of stress, equal to the force felt by a quarter with more than three cars piled on top of it.
Pray tell, who thinks up these outlandish anologies anyway? Why would you pile three cars on top of a quarter?
A better analogy would be something like "Equal to the force felt by CowboyNeal with more than one thousand chinese whores piled on top of him".
With carbon nanotube fiber backing and this new adhesive, you'll have a duct tape that will last forever and be able to lift a car!!!
wow. you don't have much humour, do you?
Oh, I don't think he's been that badly purged...
This sig has absolutely no significance and serves only to take up screen space and waste the time of the reader.
Actually, I seem to remember seeing a statistic saying that the average erect length is 5 inches. *wry grin* But I'm certainly not searching for that at work, so I'll have to rely on someone else looking up the statistic. It seems slightly small to me, but then again, that could be just the social bias that men have regarding men's penis sizes. Oddly enough, studies show that most women don't care all that much. After all, the vagina is only sensitive for the first three inches or so.
This sig has absolutely no significance and serves only to take up screen space and waste the time of the reader.
It took them this long to figure this out? Heck, even as kids, we knew this to be true. Remember how hard it was after you picked your nose to flick the glob of goop off your fingers??? hahahahahahahaha........ Sorry for grossing out those who were eating while reading this.
You forgot to mention airplanes and the space shuttle.
I hadn't known there were so many idiots in the world until I started using the Internet -Stanislaw Lem
If you read the article, it looks like the bigest challenge is going to be finding a way to package it. We'll probably se a cure for cancer first.
If this replaces duct tape, will McGuyver carry around a little petri dish with a bacteria culture in it?
Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.
"Trains per quarter!" I guess pounds per square inch is too technical for people to grasp with their tiny minds. :-)
Currently hooked on AMP
You can have my duct tape when you pull it from my YEOWCH!
-----
Hmmmmm.....Food for thought.....on the half-shell.
Knowing Google's lust for data collection, the Soviet Union is still alive and well inside the psyche of Sergey Brin....