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? "

"Time to get rid of the duct tape?"

Blasphemy!

Re:"Time to get rid of the duct tape?"

Time to replace the adhesive on duct tape with this stuff!

Re:"Time to get rid of the duct tape?"

Think twice about that suggestion the next time you accidentally (or on purpose) stick some duct tape to any part of your exposed flesh.

Re:"Time to get rid of the duct tape?"

How would you unroll it?

Re:"Time to get rid of the duct tape?"

On the flip side it would be teflon.

Re:"Time to get rid of the duct tape?"

-funroll-loops of course.

Ill be impressed if.....

It can keep my wife's mouth shut for even just an hour....

Can it be spun into long filaments?

And does it dissolve after being exposed to air?

I think I invented this several years ago

Or something close... it was alive and sticky, that's for sure.

How do we get it out of the bottle?

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...

Good point!

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

Teflon too

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 [straightdope.com]

Re:Teflon too

Yes, and the bonding technique is fairly costly, I understand. I read about a new process a few years ago that used high voltage arcs to bond teflon to metal. Supposedly it was substantially cheaper but I don't know if they ever went anywhere with it.

And Murphy's law says.....

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)?

New Glue?

Horses everywhere rejoice.

Re:New Glue?

I'll be looking out for the Slashdot-branded version of it, then.

NOOOO

This will mark the end of grandmas loosing their dentures while skydiving.

Re:NOOOO

grandmas loosing their dentures

I was going to go grammar Nazi on you, but then I realized "loosing" actually works in this context.

Amazing new unit

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 [iu.edu] to see that this glue can hold around 10,000 psi (70,000 kPa).

Re:Amazing new unit

70 MPa (~700 atm) is much better. Tank you.

It is even worse because people that are not from the United States (like me) don't even know what a quarter looks like. So, this 'intuitive' measurement is anthing but it.

Re:Amazing new unit

It is even worse because people that are not from the United States (like me) don't even know what a quarter looks like.

It's about twice the diameter of a dime.

You're welcome.

Re:Amazing new unit

But then people not from the US won't know what a dime...
Oh, wait...

Re:Amazing new unit

Not to mention that cars don't all weigh the same amount and not too many people have the vaguest idea of what three cars stacked vertically exhert on about a round inch (like a square inch, but not as pointy on the corners). I'm definately thinking somet

Re:Amazing new unit

That's easy. Just take any non-American car of a similar make and model. Then, find the ten most crucial parts of the engine that contribute to longer life. Replace them with the cheapest parts that you can find on the market, and add a ton or two to the frame to reduce gas milage.

Viola! Instant American-made vehicle.

Re:Amazing new unit

Are you kidding me? Cars/quarter is definitely an SI unit, just like the area of a football field and the thickness of a human hair.

Re:Amazing new unit

It's quarters all the way up....

Surgical adhesive

"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.

Re:Surgical adhesive

Now I can see surgical scissors being left in your abdomen and crazy-glued to your internal organs.

Yes, but at least they'll be fastened securely. Nothing to ruin your day like scissors bouncing around your spleen.

I await the lawsuit

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.

Two great quotes put together

"There are obvious applications since this adhesive works on wet surfaces,"

"We tried washing the glue off," Brun said. "It didn't work."

You and your fancy units . . . . . .

Three cars per quarter? I don't get it. How much is that in Eiffel Towers per square millicubit?

Re:You and your fancy units . . . . . .

Three cars per quarter? I don't get it. How much is that in Eiffel Towers per square millicubit?

You don't get it, do you? This is America. The land of the stupid measurements. Where there's 12 inches to a foot, 3 feet to a yard, 1760 yards to the mile, 16 ounces to a pound, 2000 pounds to the short ton and getting 543816 votes more than your opponent means you lose an election.

Sorry... couldn't help myself. God bless America for boobies and donuts! :)

Combine the powers

"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.

Strong, sure.

But how does it *taste*?

Re:Strong, sure.

"But how does it *taste*?"

This glue tastes like... burning.

It's not how it tastes ...

... it's what happens when you sniff it.

Compression, tension, shear?

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.

Re:Compression, tension, shear?

Compression is pushing in on something, like cars on the road (the cars compress the road). Tension is pulling out on something, like hanging a weight on a string (the weight applies tension to the string). Shear involves applying a sideway force, like using shears to cut paper. The shears cut through the paper, and the cut is along the paper.

Reinforced concrete combines the compression strength of concrete with the tensile strength of steel.

Glue Bacteria?

"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) [imdb.com].

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?

Re:Glue Bacteria?

By the way, has anyone tried to eat that glue and see what it tastes like?

Yes. It tastes like burning.

Tell bad duct-tape joke; *duct*

There's no way to get rid of duct tape. It has been so well marketed that people actually believe it is superior to other tapes. There's no force stronger than a belligerently held opinion.

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?

Re:Tell bad duct-tape joke; *duct*

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?

How about a suit made of duct tape.
That would be cool.

Re:Tell bad duct-tape joke; *duct*

Try gaffer tape some time.

Finally!

Something to keep the chairs planted firmly on the floor at Micorsoft!

It might be strong but...

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.

Entropic end of Earth Imminent

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.

Re:Now accepting ideas for practical jokes.

B: Pinky, are you pondering what I'm pondering?
P: Uh... I think so Brain, but where will we find that much caulobacter crescentus, three cars, and a quarter at this time of night?

Re:cars on a quarter?

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.

Re:crustiness

No, I think that's more of a personality issue.

Re:super super glue remover

I remember when Eastman 910 was sold at retail back in the mid-seventies. That stuff was incredible (it was eventually diluted and sold as Crazy Glue) all you had to do was got a tiny drop of it on your hands and touch something and the only way you'd get it off was to lose skin. I accidentally glued my left index finger to my forehead ... not funny. No, not funny at all. We eventually discovered that acetone would dissolve it but in the meantime I had my goddamn hand stuck to my head for several hours. A friend of my mothers' glued her hand to her nose. Now that was funny. And it happened instantly, you didn't get a chance to pull it loose.