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Artificial Gecko Adhesive, Now In Experimental Glue
thefickler writes "Scientists at the University of Dayton have created a peel-on, peel-off glue which mimics the wall-climbing abilities of Spiderman. The substance, based on the feet of the Gecko lizard, is three times stickier than existing adhesives. The material is so strong that a 4×4mm pad would be enough to hold a 1.5kg object such as a hardcover book. However, it's likely too expensive for consumer use: one British scientist calculates that a single Post-it note using the glue would cost around a thousand dollars." We've mentioned the possibilities of synthetic gecko technology several times before, including as applied in this wall-climbing robot; commercial applications have seemed just around the corner for a while now.
They mention the cost, but surely that will come down. Anything breakthrough like that is going to be expensive to create until the figure out a way to mass produce it.
I wonder, however, the type of strength you'd have to have to actually "do a Spiderman" up the building. Yes it will hold you to the building, but you'll still have to have the upper body strength to advance your way up without handholds to help if it's a flat surface.
Sci-Fi fun aside, there will no doubt be a lot of uses for this product. And a few years down the road we will have infomercial guru, Billy Mays shouting at us to try new and improved "Gecko Glue" to hang pictures and fix broken mugs. :)
If you've never been modded as "flamebait" or "troll," you've never tried to argue a minority viewpoint here!
So wear gloves and shoes that are tightly attached. You can hold yourself up normally by your fingers and toes, right? Problem solved.
My blog. Good stuff (when I remember to update it). Read it.
The Spiderman "application" may be useful for explaining the general function of the glue, but I wonder how it would fare in actual building-scaling. The fact that one only needs change the angle of the glue application area to detach it makes it seem too unreliable to use for holding up objects. I'd much rather be held 100 feet in the air by a cable than by a square inch of an adhesive (and in fact, I'd rather not be held in the air at all). This is just my intuition, of course, and not carefully researched. I'd be a lot happier seeing it used in other commercial applications—e.g., in the place of soldering—when/if it becomes commercial viable to do so.
I am so glad they came up with a new gecko adhesive. I haven't had good results nailing my geckos down, they eat the tape, and the natural gecko adhesive just doesn't cut it.
Actually, you are being a pedant. You're right, but, y'know, I'm sure you did know what the OP meant.
I don't mean this as an insult; it's just that your post made me grin. Kind of like when someone underscores what they are expressing metaphorically by saying, "literally." Like: "I was so hungry I literally could have eaten a horse." I've actually taken to saying, myself, "[blah blah], literally! By which I mean figuratively."
And when anyone questions my most outlandish statements, I tell them, straight faced, "I always speak in hyperbole. Always. ALLLWAYS."
The CB App. What's your 20?
Last time I pulled one of those off the wall it came off no problem. Along with the paint and wallboard behind it!
There are probably a few more uses for it than using a small pad to blue a book to a wall and to be spiderman. Don't be so obtuse.
TFS says a 4x4 mm pad holds 1.5 kg.
Someone is wrong (probably TFS, since it implies failure on ther part of the editors).
How can 4.5x4.5 mm hold more than 160 times the eight of 2x2 mm when it's just 5 times the surface area?
Welding the hard hat directly to the beam works so much better.
Actually, not. The hat tends to melt. And I'd rather not have to weld channels to the flange to cradle the lip of the helmet either. Bolting is right out, too: it needs to have minimal impact to the structural integrity of the beam.
Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
The Science Channel has a very good example of how they replicate the gecko adhesiveness. http://science.discovery.com/video/weird-connections.html?playerId=1803212346&titleId=1805366122
Can it be removed instantly without solvents and with no damage to the materials bonded together?
Yes, that's the whole point of this.
Think about a gecko, does it rip the paint off walls with each step? The bond is easily released by peeling but sticks strongly if you try to slide it, like a post-it note but stronger. Apparently it is self-cleaning too.
It doesn't bond the way glue or other adhesives do, the adhesion is from the addition of the van der Waals force from millions/billions of tiny "hairs". more info
This sounds like a perfect solution for adhering the tiles to the outside of the space shuttle, provided it can withstand the heat. Considering the glue would be on the back of the insulating tiles, does that mean the temperatures would be tolerable enough for it to work?
2 cents
Reading only the title - as is traditional around here - why would I want an adhesive which only adheres to geckos?