Eli5: What makes things “sticky” like tape or any kind of adhesive? How do they stick on to smooth surfaces instead of coming off?
In: Chemistry
To my knowledge, if anyone knows better or can add more details. Please do.
Eli5: Think of glue as a really strong person, who is in between your sheets of paper grabbing on to at their molecules. A molecule being the very small blocks that make up your material, in this case paper, that you would need special tools to view.
The stronger that person is, the more your two sheets of paper will stick to each other, and thus be “stickier”.
Tape is much the same way, but instead of being squeezed out of a bottle or rolled on to the things we are trying to hold together. It comes on it’s own plastic material, so that we can have options on how we hold things together.
Eli15: Tape and most adhesives work by forming chemical bonds between both surfaces. The strength of these bonds will determine the adhesive abilities, stronger bonds, stronger stick. I believe epoxy works by filling into the pores of whatever it is you are sticking together, and solidifying into a solid mass, that locks the materials together.
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