The Stickiest Non-Sticky Substance

January 24, 2023 1:44 PM

Adhesives based on gecko skin can hold huge weights – without sticking to anything. Derek Muller, aka Veritasium, is explaining how Geckos can stick to surfaces without being sticky. Van der Waals forces provide the glue. (Thanks to Veritasium on Youtube)
posted by nostrada (8 comments total)

Interesting that the fastest manufacture technique they have for this surface is 'carve a tiny relief with cnc then mould it.' I wonder if lithography / etching could create the mould faster at scale or in more durable material.
posted by OtroGoyo at 3:53 PM on January 24, 2023 [3 favorites]

This is just screaming for people to try themselves with homebrew silicon blends and razor blade holding jigs etc.

The whole video had me thinking about wet wetsuits and vacuum welding of metals and tape and wrinkled wet fingers and on and on. Shear forces and what constitutes the boundary of an object and all sorts of fun subjects.
posted by Acari at 6:24 PM on January 24, 2023

Really amazing. There must be so many uses for this stuff. I wonder how quickly it wears out? And what happens on wet surfaces?
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 7:41 PM on January 24, 2023

This was amazing - and it is also remarkable that it only appears to be very recently that we have worked out how geckoes do their thing (and realised that we have not way of directly replicating it). I guess all of us are plagued, from time to time, from suction cup attachments - or glued attachments - which suddenly come undone (in my case, dropping bottles of shampoo over a shower room floor). Maybe this would be a better way. Many applications out there.
posted by rongorongo at 11:56 PM on January 24, 2023

I would like a suit that lets me slowly roll down a window like one of those little sticky men.
posted by dowcrag at 3:24 AM on January 25, 2023 [6 favorites]

Who wouldn't want to be a Wacky Wallwalker!
posted by AzraelBrown at 6:29 AM on January 25, 2023

i thought it was a fruit rollup and now now everything i eat sticks to the inside of my ribs until i do a handstand

but i saved a bundle on my car insurance
posted by not_on_display at 9:11 AM on January 25, 2023 [3 favorites]

This is just screaming for people to try themselves with homebrew silicon blends and razor blade holding jigs etc.

Perhaps you'd like this not very successful attempt from seven years ago. (Shocking to me that it was that long ago!)
posted by wierdo at 4:07 AM on January 26, 2023 [1 favorite]