Which is stronger: Glue or tape? - Elizabeth Cox

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The oldest glue in the world is over 8,000 years old and comes from a cave near the Dead Sea. Today, we have enough types of tape and glue to build and repair almost anything. But what gives glue and tape their stickiness? And is one stronger than the other? Elizabeth Cox explores the world of adhesives.

Lesson by Elizabeth Cox, animation by Sinbad Richardson.

The oldest glue in the world
is over 8,000 years old

and comes from a cave near the Dead Sea.

Ancient people used this glue,

made from a mixture of animal bone
and plant materials,

to waterproof baskets
and construct utensils.

And for thousands of years after,

plants and animals were the glue
that held human civilization together.

Today, we have enough types of tape and
glue to build and repair almost anything.

But what gives glue
and tape their stickiness?

And is one stronger than the other?

Adhesives can be made
from synthetic molecules

or natural proteins and carbohydrates

like the vegetable starch dextrin,

the milk protein casein,

and the terpenes in tree resin.

In order to work, glue and tape need
both adhesive bonds and cohesive bonds.

Adhesive bonds occur between
an adhesive’s molecules

and the molecules
of whatever it’s sticking to.

Cohesive bonds happen between
a glue or tape’s own molecules,

holding it together.

Most glues consist of adhesive polymers
dissolved in a solvent

that prevents them from sticking
to the inside of the bottle.

The strong smell of many glues
comes from the solvent,

which evaporates when exposed to air.

Some glues use water as a solvent,

but others use chemicals
that can be harmful to inhale.

Glues with two or more components that
chemically react instead of just drying

can create stronger bonds.

Both the adhesive and cohesive bonds
of glue are strong,

but the drying process
makes them irreversible.

This is why, if a glued surface
is broken after it dries,

it can’t be reattached without new glue.

By contrast,
when tape is applied to a surface,

it forms weaker, reversible bonds,

so you can peel a piece of tape off
a surface and use it again.

These weak bonds,
called Van der Waals forces,

can occur between any two materials,

but only if they’re
extremely close together,

closer than the naked eye can see.

Tape usually consists of a backing coated
with a combination of a rubber

or rubber-like "stretchy" component,

and a compound called a tackifier.

That’s the "sticky" component.

A tape’s stickiness is determined

by the proportion of elastic component
and tackifier,

the thickness of adhesive spread
onto the backing,

and the type of backing material.

No chemical reaction occurs
when tape is pressed onto a surface.

Instead, the soft adhesive flows into
the cracks and grooves of the surface.

This ability to slide into cracks and then
stay in place is called viscoelasticity.

Once the viscoelastic adhesive fills
these microscopic crevices,

it is close enough to form
Van der Waals forces.

So what’s the world’s strongest adhesive?

Well, there’s no one answer.

In terms of absolute strength
of adhesive bonds,

glue is stronger than tape,

but no single adhesive
works well in all circumstances.

Of the glues, cyanoacrylates,
or super glues,

may form the strongest bonds,

but two-component epoxy glues have much
higher resistance to heat and shearing,

and are compatible
with a wider range of surfaces.

So, if you wanted
to dangle an anvil in the air,

super glue might be your best bet.

But if you’re doing so
over an active volcano,

you’d want an epoxy instead.

And in order to work at all,

glues need enough real estate
where surfaces touch.

If for some reason you wanted
to make a chain of bowling balls,

duct tape would be better.

Engineers weigh similar,
if less absurd, factors all the time.

Choosing the right glue to withstand
the heat inside an engine

is a matter of life and death.

And though the strength
of duct tape’s adhesive bonds

can’t compete with those of epoxy glues,

tape does have the advantage of
instantaneous stickiness in an emergency.

Glue may be necessary
to get a rocket to space,

but when it comes
to extraterrestrial repairs,

stick to duct tape:
liquid glues don’t work in zero gravity.