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?"

[awtbfb]

Blasphemy!

Can it be spun into long filaments?

[OneDeeTenTee]

And does it dissolve after being exposed to air?

I think I invented this several years ago

[Anonymous Coward]

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

How do we get it out of the bottle?

[kbob88]

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...

And Murphy's law says.....

[Anonymous Coward]

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?

[Anonymous Coward]

Horses everywhere rejoice.

my char

[cryptoz]

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!

NOOOO

[popetty]

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

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

[Anonymous Coward]

Paraphrasing Charlton Heston:

They can take my Duct Tape when they peel it out of my cold-dead hands.

Surgical adhesive

[andy314159pi]

"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 await the lawsuit

[ip_freely_2000]

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.

Re:NOOOO

[MyLongNickName]

grandmas loosing their dentures

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

Two great quotes put together

[rtaylor]

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

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

Re:Now accepting ideas for practical jokes.

[42Penguins]

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?

You and your fancy units . . . . . .

[failure-man]

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

Combine the powers

[darkitecture]

"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.

Standard units?

[h4rr4r]

"quarter with more than three cars piled on top of it" Can any one convert this to libraries of congress/volkswagen beetles?

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

[darkitecture]

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! :)

Strong, sure.

[Atzanteol]

But how does it *taste*?

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

[st0rmshad0w]

How would you unroll it?

Re:Strong, sure.

[MobileTatsu-NJG]

"But how does it *taste*?"

This glue tastes like... burning.

Glue Bacteria?

[suv4x4]

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

[Breakfast Pants]

On the flip side it would be teflon.

Re:Compression, tension, shear?

[That's Unpossible!]

I bet your post would be funnier if I was a physics dork.

Re:Amazing new unit

[kzinti]

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.

Tell bad duct-tape joke; *duct*

[jolshefsky]

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:Even more important:

[Ragnarrokk]

With great difficulty?

``Ragnarok

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

[chris_eineke]

-funroll-loops of course.

Re:Amazing new unit

[Firehed]

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 something relative to a fat woman in stilettos puncturing your foot would be more world-friendly.

Of course, the unit makes almost no sense anyways, because most people are going to puzzle about the force it takes to tear two glued things apart when the measurement is given in two (well, four) things being pressed together. I'm thinking an x-pound (or kilogram, for the rest of the world) weight being lifted might actually be appropriate. So now ungluing that prank quarter will require the same lift as some stupid amount of weight to remove. Certainly the crowbar you'll need to achieve such a force will cost more than the quarter you'll gain, unless you're one of those Gordon Freeman types.

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

[TubeSteak]

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.

Finally!

[SeaFox]

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

Re:Glue Bacteria?

[soft_guy]

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

Yes. It tastes like burning.

Re:Amazing new unit

[ArkonChakravanti]

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

Re:Glue Bacteria?

[Anonymous Coward]

"However, I'm sure they'll find what it eats and attack warnings and stuff." People?

It's not how it tastes ...

[triclipse]

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

Let the buyer beware!

[nukeade]

(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

It might be strong but...

[TekPolitik]

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.

Re:crustiness

[ScrewMaster]

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

Re:Amazing new unit

[drudd]

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

Re:Surgical adhesive

[patio11]

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.

Warning!

[StuffThatDoesNotMatt]

Store product in a safe place when having sex.

Re:New Glue?

[Martin Blank]

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

Re:Amazing new unit

[grimsweep]

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.

In my tired, decaffeinated state...

[Phase Shifter]

I misread the title as "The world's strongest clue." ...and I thought I knew a few people who could really use it.

Oh well, I'm sure there's some application for this.

Re:Amazing new unit

[jimmydevice]

A dime is the same size as a Australian 1 cent coin.
That should put a end to this thread!
I know, because I used them to defraud the paper boxes in town.

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

[B3ryllium]

He'd make some out of bubblegum and a piece of cloth ripped from his shirt.

you're not doing it right

[commodoresloat]

you're not supposed to eat the glue; you just sniff it.

Amateurs.

Re:my char

[Anonymous Coward]

Looks kile you need some duct-tape to stop the 'i' falling off 'chair'.

Re:Strong glue, weak description

[wild_berry]

Both stress and pressure are measured in force/area, so can be used interchangeably. (Right now I'm writing home: Mom! Stuff I specialised in Grad School is useful after all!)

Ill be impressed if.....

[coogan]

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