Did you know?
From cardboard boxes to airplanes, adhesives can be found everywhere. They can be made from natural substances or consist of several chemically produced compounds. Adhesives are also specialists. There is an adhesive for almost every adhesive problem. But all adhesives have two properties in common: they must bond well to the things they are supposed to stick and they must hold together well when they have hardened.
Experiments related to gluing
Quiz
Can you glue wounds?
Answer
Yes! There are special superglues for the skin. Doctors use them for small cuts, for example. The adhesives dissolve without a trace when the wound heals.
Can you glue under water?
Answer
Yes, but it is very difficult. Mussels are really good at it. They produce their own glue from proteins.
Why doesn't the spider stick to its web?
Answer
For one thing, the spider's web is not sticky all over. For another, spider legs have a kind of non-stick coating on their hairs.
Did glue already exist in the Stone Age?
Answer
Yes, as early as 5000 B.C., people made glue from birch pitch. They used it for things like gluing on spearheads.
