This Video is About Electroadhesion.

How would you stick a slice of banana to a sheet of copper? Until a few months ago, you couldn’t. But a new discovery called “hard-soft electroadhesion” enables chemists to stick almost any hydrogel to almost any metal, using nothing but an electric current. Join George as he tries to replicate electroadhesion in his basement and discovers what it has in common with superglue… and, surprisingly, water.
#Electroadhesion
#ACSCentralScience
#ChemistryExperiment
#DIYScienceExperiment
#DIYChemistry
#Superglue
#HowGlueWorks
Credits:
Executive Producer: Matthew Radcliff
Producers:
Andrew Sobey
Elaine Seward
Darren Weaver
Writer & Host: George Zaidan
Scientific Consultants:
Michelle Boucher, Ph.D.
Rigoberto C. Advincula, Ph.D.
Leila Duman, Ph.D.
Srinivasa R. Raghavan, Ph.D.
Wenhao Xu
Executive in Charge for PBS: Maribel Lopez
Director of Programming for PBS: Gabrielle Ewing
Assistant Director of Programming for PBS: John Campbell
Reactions is a production of the American Chemical Society.
© 2024 American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.
Sources:
Reversibly Sticking Metals and Graphite to Hydrogels and Tissues
pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsc...
Electroadhesion Technologies for Robotics: A Comprehensive Review
ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/...
Electroadhesion with application to touchscreens
pubs.rsc.org/en/content/artic...
Advancement of Electroadhesion Technology for Intelligent and Self‐Reliant Robotic Applications
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/f...
Visualization methods for understanding the dynamic electroadhesion phenomenon
iopscience.iop.org/article/10...
Surface haptics via electroadhesion: Expanding electrovibration with Johnsen and Rahbek | IEEE Conference Publication | IEEE Xplore
ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/...
Interfacial Phenomena in Adhesion and Adhesive Bonding | SpringerLink
link.springer.com/book/10.100...
What are adhesives and sealants and how do they work? - ScienceDirect
www.sciencedirect.com/science...
A review of adhesion science - ScienceDirect
www.sciencedirect.com/science...
Adhesion: Molecules and Mechanics | Science
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/s...
Handbook of Adhesives | SpringerLink
link.springer.com/book/10.100...
Knovel - kHTML Viewer
app.knovel.com/web/view/khtml...
Bonding Mechanism of Cyanoacrylates on SiO2 and Au: Spectroscopic Studies of the Interface | The Journal of Physical Chemistry C
pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs....
Advancement of Electroadhesion Technology for Intelligent and Self‐Reliant Robotic Applications - Rajagopalan - 2022 - Advanced Intelligent Systems - Wiley Online Library
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/f...
Unravelling the Chemical Influence of Water on the PMMA/Aluminum Oxide Hybrid Interface In Situ | Scientific Reports
www.nature.com/articles/s4159...
Dissimilar material joining of densified superwood to aluminum by adhesive bonding | The International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology
link.springer.com/article/10....
An inelastic electron tunnelling spectroscopy (IETS) study of poly(vinylacetate) poly(methyl methacrylate) and poly(vinylalcohol) adsorbed on aluminium oxide - ScienceDirect
www.sciencedirect.com/science...
Molecular imaging of paper cross sections by FT-IR spectroscopy and principal component analysis | Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry
link.springer.com/article/10....
Understanding Wood Bonds-Going Beyond What Meets the Eye: A Critical Review
www.fpl.fs.usda.gov/documnts/...
Content Not Found: Ingenta Connect
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fpl.fs.usda.gov/documnts/fplgtr/fplgtr282/chapter_10_fpl_gtr282.pdf
www.fpl.fs.usda.gov/documnts/...
Role of contact electrification and electrostatic interactions in gecko adhesion - PMC
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...
Chemistry Ph.D. Explains how Super Glue Actually Works.
• Chemistry Ph.D. Explai...
Compound Interest: Sticky Science - The Chemistry of Superglue
www.compoundchem.com/2015/10/...
What makes super glue so super? | HowStuffWorks
home.howstuffworks.com/questi...
Electron Microscopy for Visualization of Interfaces in Adhesion and Adhesive Bonding | SpringerLink
link.springer.com/chapter/10....

[@ACSReactions]

In case you don't want to scroll all the way down to our sources in the video description, here's the electroadhesion paper: pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acscentsci.3c01593 And based off the not-yet-published stuff they told us about while we were shooting, we may have to do a follow up video at some point down the road.

[@xtieburn]

Hmm, isnt the electroadhesion paper that team did 10.1021/acscentsci.3c01593 ?

[@ACSReactions]

Whoops, it sure is, thank you for noticing! Edited.

[@babyoda1973]

Dude you got to meet them that is so cool those guys are heros and you're a legend 😊

[@crawkn]

Clearly chemists should be required to hire 3-year-olds to continuously ask them "but why?", until they realize that the answer is "nobody knows (yet)."

[@a.randomjack6661]

Why could be anything. The complicated questions are "how",

[@crawkn]

@@a.randomjack6661 why and how serve the same function in this context. You can't tell why without telling how. But sure, most 3-year-olds can also employ "how."

[@a.randomjack6661]

Ever listened to Lawrence Krauss talking about this? Maybe you should...

[@crawkn]

@@a.randomjack6661 You've been rather vague with that suggestion, I assume Lawrence has said a great many things about hows and whys, but here is one of them: "I think the biggest philosophical questions - why is there something rather than nothing - have now become scientific questions, and that the hows and whys are actually the same thing. In science, 'why' questions can always be recast as 'how' questions. And that's the kind of question I can try and answer." Big Think interview, 2011. I would generalize that to mean that he is referring to avoiding the kind of vague existential "whys," not the specific ones, like why does this chemical stick to that one.

[@unvergebeneid]

Isn't that what being a scientist is? Minus the three-year-olds and plus finding some actual explanations?

[@FennecTECH]

The jello became blue because copper ions were driven into the jello by running current through it from a copper plate

[@Alfred-Neuman]

prove it...

[@jamesmcmanus]

@@Alfred-Neuman The proof is in the pudding.

[@ganjalfcreamcorn8438]

Makes sense for sure

[@SeaTurtle1122]

If that were the case, I think we would expect to see a gradient where the blue color is strongest closest to the plate and weakest closest to the opposite plate. The sample he showed appeared to be a relatively uniform blue tint, and the time frame seems very short for ion transport like that, so I’m skeptical

[@animehair05silently88]

I'd be interested in seeing that hypothesis tested; probably you could test clear gels with copper electrodes until you find one that turns blue like in the video, then see if it does the same with graphite electrodes? or alternately teat all your gels with both copper electrodes and graphite instead of only testing graphite on the ones that turn blue with copper

[@rylanpeepee]

If i ever need to gule a piece of metal to jello, I'll come back to this video.

[@quintessenceSL]

Someone will eventually figure out how to isolate the direction charge and end up gluing two metals together with jello. And that has huge implications in labor savings (just assemble and apply current).

[@AySz88]

It wasn't on the screen very long, but the paper talks about gluing *tissues* to metals. As in, body parts.

[@Kenionatus]

A small step for humanity, a huge leap for flesh robots. ​@@AySz88

[@bobert6259]

You can reversibly glue “almost any hydrogel to almost any metal”, where hydrogel includes fruits, veggies, meat, etc. so basically you can stick almost anything biological (any hydrogel but close enough!) to any hard surface. That’s pretty remarkable imo.

[@Risky_Boots999]

wish i saw this last week

[@gmozzi5827]

This is an astounding example of science communication. Clear, concise, stimulating; seeing you do the experiments, getting sidetracked, asking questions and not immediately having answers makes the journey enjoyable and instructive (THIS is how science works!). thank you for making it

[@Dcjoe94]

Is it heating. The jello stuff or whatever it is food related? Like cooking it with microscopic plasma?

[@r-i-v-v]

​@@Dcjoe94ionic bonding ?

[@gl15col]

I always get a giggle out of science deniers who triumphantly say "See, they didn't know every possible thing about this subject, and now new facts have changed how they explain it!" Hah, jokes on them. Scientists love it when new facts come up and change the explanation for something. New knowledge is the gold medal, the thing they're working for. A true scientist does not have any problem with changing a hypothesis to integrate new discoveries, as long as it takes them closer to the final solution.

[@andrewtinker7537]

This seems to be a bit of rediscovery. Edison invented an audio amplifier based on electroadhesion he called the 'electro-motograph', after noting that passing an electric current between a wet absorbent substance and a metal plate caused the wet substance to stick. It used adhesion between a rotating metal disk and a chalk electrode or a rotating chalk disk and a metal electrode. Passing an intermittent electric current, for example from a carbon microphone, between the chalk and metal would cause the chalk to adhere and then slip, and the resulting pull/release action on the electrode was transmitted to a speaker diaphragm by a string.

[@user-xj8wy4uu1q]

Cool

[@wolvenar]

I accidentally found this property/ reaction between metals and various soft foods when I was a kid in the 1980s. I was experimenting with what I could use to make batteries. Well more so seeing what would work as an electrolyte, and if any of them would allow reforming of metals so they could recharge. I mentioned I was just a kid right?) I didn't realize there was anything particularly special about it and shrugged it off as something mildly interesting. Makes you wonder how many other discoveries have happened but not realized.

[@zinckensteel]

LOADS, but most never find a place in the realm of practical tech that leads to it being widely known. Most discoveries start with "huh, that's weird.." ..but most people don't have an aggrandizing university name behind them that wants nothing more than to HYPE THAT SHIT.

[@michaelandersen7535]

My favorite instance of this is the "discovery" that meal worms can eat and digest polystyrene, which got people really excited about the recycling possibilities. Farmers, who feed meal worms to chickens, replied with "yeah, everyone knows they eat polystyrene. That's why you can't keep them in polystyrene cups"

[@PixlRainbow]

​@@michaelandersen7535tbf, it's a bit more complicated than that. It's one thing to know that mealworms eat polystyrene, it's another thing to know that they actually digest it properly rather than just passing it through or accumulating it.

[@machematix]

​​@@PixlRainbow this is amazing news! I grow mealworms for my lizards. Unfortunately I don't have dinosaurs so I can't break down much... But I wonder if the bacteria would get passed on to other species they live with... I read it works with shrimp, but what about the lizard itself? Probably not. Guess I just need more lizards to eat the hordes of mealworms. Or go feed the birds.

[@1495978707]

Yes, it was *crazy* to me as a physicist entering materials science to realize that there's nothing all that special going on with adhesives, just a whole lot of surface contact. Most things that touch only actually make atomic contact on a small fraction of the surfaces. Pretty much anything that can go from liquid to solid can be a glue, even metal can! Which is what solder is. But! Wetting is important, just because you have a liquid on a solid doesn't mean it fills in all the nooks and crannies and bonds to it. Surface energy does matter too, which is why teflon is very hard to stick to

[@andrewgregoryhansen1209]

Teflon does make a great oxidizer in thermitic reactions. Though it goes off with a bang, and is prone to static, so…

[@jemmerllast8492]

Which blows my mind that we have developed adhesives that work with PTFE! When I first came across it at work I was shocked it (PTFE adhesive tape) even existed

[@wellscampbell9858]

Gonna guess the blue was copper salts formed by electrolysis.

[@vapenation7061]

correct it’s due to Cu2+ ions in the gel

[@yegfreethinker]

Was thinking the same

[@dj_laundry_list]

I'm trying to adhere to your lecture material but this lesson didn't really stick. I just can seem to bond with you on this. At least it wasn't tacky.

[@ACSReactions]

the writing's really on the van der Waals here haha I'm so sorry

[@BarteG44]

Nerd to nerd communication

[@dj_laundry_list]

@@ACSReactions I find it ionic that you're forcing the issue. This might be an anode-dyne thing to say, but this is very cathodeartic

[@tedarcher9120]

Need more voltage applied to your parts

[@ivoryas1696]

@@BarteG44 All according to Kekaku, one could say! 🤓

[@hathzorz]

Very surprising when the scientist in the paper you were talking about ended up being my professor from undergrad!

[@ktktktktktktkt]

I feel like you could stick a smooth metal plate to a banana just with its moisture and surface tension though haha

[@ACSReactions]

Yes! You totally can, and if you've never done it before it's hard to tell if you're getting electroadhesion or just smooshed banana. But there is, in fact, a difference.

[@SilvaDreams]

Pretty much this entire video was either him burning something between the two plates or it just sticking do to surface tension.

[@cavemann_]

@@ACSReactions Judging by the fact that you're a banana expert, I choose trust.

[@themoleznezz]

@@SilvaDreams Burning isn't reversible, and surface tension is not nearly so strong.

[@taukid421]

10:28, that 'movie magic' transition to you finishing up a few dotted lines was comedy gold 😂

[@FreeXenon]

I am not a chemistry person, but I greatly appreciate your explanations. Water is a glue?!?! Mind blown!

[@jtjames79]

I can't believe I never thought of using ice to pull parts. The cold would reduce the diameter, and give you grip.

[@cmaxxen]

And now I'm curious about all the different types of glue and how they work. Hide glue in luthiery, flour paste and paper, contact glue.. so many adhesives out there.

[@AstridDaFox]

Small correction. Water is extremely sticky. Where you can wipe up most oils without having a large amount of residue left behind, water will leave a damp spot. This ability to stick to things is one of the reasons that water is so good for life because it will dissolve anything that is slightly polar which includes the nutrients inside cells. It just doesn't feel sticky because it's not very viscous. Good video though.

[@unvergebeneid]

Now I want electroadhesive hairspray.

[@carpemkarzi]

Gotta love the new science being discovered and explored. This could dead end to a ‘neat’ thing or open up whole new technologies. Damn fine work from the team and as always damn fine work from George.

[@ACSReactions]

Thank you!

[@DH-bf9xb]

You say COVID, but one notices the espresso martini look'n drink on the table.

[@Dumdumshum]

I feel like you're overthinking this. Surface imperfections filled with monomers or other small molecules (like in the case of water) that then polymerize (or freeze) create tiny mechanical locks against lateral movement of the adhesive in relation to the bonded surface. Perpendicular movements are then mitigated by vanderwaal forces as well as chemical bonding, with the significance of each varying depending on the adhesive and the bonded surface. In the case of electroadhesion, it seems to require a soft material or one that is partially liquid. I bet the electron migration at the interface is carrying other ions along for the ride via electrostatic effects in the same way that dendrite formation occurs across the electrolyte of batteries, again creating tiny mechanical locks at the interface.

[@jezecrobertson4625]

Mechanical locks? I'm not a chemist but it sounds like you're oversimplifying and dismissing the actual science as "overthinking"

[@Dumdumshum]

@@TheGlizzardOfKov Oh no, a single paragraph compared to an entire video. How excruciatingly complicated. I bet each word takes you a full ten seconds to comprehend, doesn't it?

[@Loderyod]

Yeah, isn't that's exactly how nano tape works? And it's a REALLY strong adhesive

[@Dumdumshum]

@@Loderyod I believe that what I've described is partially the cause for almost all surface adhesives.

[@crawkn]

To generalize, removing electrons from a material, i.e. ionizing it, makes it more chemically active, so chemical bonds will be part of the adhesive effect. It is useful to know the specifics of those bonds, but not essential to a general understanding of the phenomenon. Some glues work almost exclusively by mechanical bonding, others mostly chemical, but most have some combination of the two, with Van Der Waals forces contributing negligibly. However deliberately weak adhesives with reversible bonds may rely primarily on Van Der Waals forces.

[@thekaxmax]

That last line: gecko tape

[@1.4142]

Applications... prank your siblings by sticking their jello to their spoon?

[@danielculver2209]

Heck yeah

[@bengraham3707]

These videos are much more fun than they have any right to be.

[@ChromicQuanta]

Water is hot glue for penguins!

[@danielculver2209]

aw :)

[@whatitmeans]

for now on I will ask for a glass of "penguins' super glue"!!!

[@kuronosan]

Does it only work with extremely flat surfaces for both material? If it can stand a little roughness I can see an application where a gel or mat of gel hairs is continuously extruded onto a surface and the charge keeps it in place as the gel wears away and is replaced with new gel.

[@SianaGearz]

By all reason, the gel can simply conform to the unevenness of the surface. Because those copper plates he used are guaranteed very unflat at the microscopic scale. Even if they used to be at some point (they didn't), they guaranteed no longer were as soon as he cleaned them with a paper towel.

[@belg4mit]

I wonder if the blue gel is from free electrons, a la lithium in ammonia.

[@zinckensteel]

That was my first thought as well, but after more consideration it is far more likely to be copper ions driven into the gel via iontophoresis

[@user-xj8wy4uu1q]

Free electrons would probably reduce the carboxylate ions in gelatin, it’s probably a copper hydroxide colloid

[@ogedeh]

Words words words uhh words 🧪🔬🥼

[@lajoswinkler]

No. There can be no free electrons in aqueous solutions. This is hydratized Cu2+. And this is not electroadhesion at all.

[@blindbutnotbroken1755]

I’m picturing practical applications for this technology and I am envisioning airlock seals on spacecraft that rely on electro adhesion with a gel interface layer creating a perfect seal reversible at a moments notice. This is a truly remarkable discovery. It has so many practical applications. It’s unbelievable. wow I love these videos. Always something new to learn, thank you for sharing this

[@jikbrosentertainment]

This means spider-man has actual science to how his wall-crawling works now.

[@jasonneugebauer5310]

Hair spray was originally made from boiled flax seeds and water(probably also some alcohol or something to make it dry fast)... NOT Elmer's Glue. You can try the flax seeds recipe it works. My wife's sister in Honduras uses it all the time.

[@rileyhtn6774]

Daaaaaanng I'm so glad KZbin provides me with my interest

[@Nuovoswiss]

The mechanism seems simple. It's long been known that organic molecules (such as the proteins in gelatin or the saccharides in a banana) undergo electrochemical reactions. Since this adhesion only occurs at the anode, we can infer some of the metal is being oxidized, as well as some of the nearby organic molecules. The oxidation of metal, along with the aqueous environment of both can lead to a nano-porous interface, which would adhere via capillary action. Additionally, it's possible that some component of the protein or saccharide would oxidize to form an organo-copper compound creating molecular bonds.

[@willemvandebeek]

huh, water is glue, that is an epiphany...

[@filonin2]

Any liquid is when cooled below it's freezing point. Steel is a glue if you spread it as a liquid over rocks and let it cool.

[@willemvandebeek]

@@filonin2 not sure about the 'any liquid'-part, for example I can see liquid butter solidified being less sticky than water-ice...

[@apppples]

​@@filonin2 i think any liquid that has a wetting property, but not any liquid?

[@justicesportsman6020]

Wild! I never read superglue packaging before, but as a chemist I know that LDPE doesn’t adhere to superglue. Been using the fact for a while while building figurines. A ziplock bag saves your models from sticking to your work surface

[@ThePrimaFacie]

This is great, so is the presentation. Looking forward to learning more about this when it solidifies. Thanks for the vid

[@relientker]

i need a full video on how different glues and adhesives stick to OTHER things, thats always been such a fascinating concept to me. and how different types have different long term stickability or restickability. so fascinating lol.

[@autarchex]

Years ago I worked at a tech company that made a product built from glass and silicon wafers bonded together. I was curious and asked about the adhesive used and the reply was "electric charge." "Huh?" You lay a Si wafer down flat on a hotplate/electrode, then cover it with a glass wafer, then lay the other electrode on top and heat up the whole sandwich. Glass becomes more conductive as it heats up. Run a current through the stack and the large, flat faces of the wafers stick together. Maintain the current after turning off the heat source; as it cools down the glass resumes being an insulator and the current drops to practically zero. Your two wafers are now permanently bonded together - as long as they are not exposed to very high temperatures - by separated electric charges frozen in place on either side of the interface. A better bond than any glue or adhesive and no gaps. I was told this was "electroadhesion" and was well known in certain technical niche contexts but little known otherwise. Might as well be witchcraft the first time you see it.

[@nyuh]

aw yeah i love videos like this !!! because i often forget that science is happening all the time and there are SO MANY things we dont know yet. and its so exciting to glimpse into the unknown like this. ESPECIALLY hearing directly from the researchers themselves. i extremely appreciate the research put into this vid despite the notational errors XD

[@removechan10298]

it's oxygen bonding. the electrical charge allows oxygen to bond into the surface in some crystalline way, that is on a see-saw of energy, so it can tip back over.

[@TheTomCruiseLover]

Oh my gosh this is the same guy as the Ted Ed animated videos !! I'm glad to finally see in person one of my heroes !!

[@SmirkInvestigator]

Water is sticky. Just doesn’t have group help from polymerization. But you said basically that with the ice explanation

[@maxmusterman3371]

Its so cool that you spoke with the researchers

[@alexixeno4223]

This video speaks to my soul. Thank you.

[@Volvie]

The cool thing about this is that after the electro adhesion has taken place, you don’t need continuous power to hold it so would be interesting to see what kind of applications this could have.

[@ChristopherCurtis]

Not on headphones today but the audio levels across jump cuts seems much more consistent. Good job and thanks if that was intentional. Interesting content as always. I will be sure to tell everyone I know that water is a glue.

[@noone-ez6on]

I remember wondering about adhesion mechanisms some years ago and spending a while on the net trying to get to the bottom of it. I think the explanation that worked most for me, atleast partially, was a simple physical anchor being created as the fluid filled out porous materials and hardened. Which i always though explained it pretty well, if not fully. Thanks for those two papers, i think it's about time to update my knowledge on this topic!

[@CCSMrChen]

This video is cutting edge science. I felt my brain growing over 14 minutes. Thank you!

[@dalitas]

Just to add friendly salt to your wounds, Me is generally reserved for methyl, id use M for an unspecified metal instead.

[@ACSReactions]

Sigh. I think you're right. Though in my defense I did copy "Me" straight from the paper. So nobody caught it in peer review either

[@ChaosAura452]

the first few seconds of this video made me think this was BS but then I kept watching and I was like... no way... NO WAY!!!

[@daniellapain1576]

This looks incredibly similar to how acid batteries work over a long period but in this case it’s the buildup of material that causes a bond instead of destroying a battery. The reactive material in the solid electrolyte gets pushed to the other surface filling up the tiny gaps and creates a bond. Pole reversal shoves that material to the other side and releases to one side and fills the other. So any battery material should be able to do this in theory. This might be a good way to test for new materials in the future for batteries.

[@FreeXenon]

LOL ! Love the distractions. "Worst chemist everrrr!!!!"

[@suwedo8677]

Have they explored the possibility of electrolysis being involved in this process?

[@peterhutchinson2836]

Good job on the vid very well produced and engaging.

[@aerbon]

maybe something to do with electrolysis and some oxidation. and then maybe when the current is reversed, since the gasses are released at the opposite sides, they recombine into water and undo the process?

[@Infinity-fz3sn]

This technique will be a game changer Every entity will be influenced by this superb BRAVO

[@supermaster2012]

This is just the electric current melting the dielectric and causing it to fill the microscopic voids in the anode, it won't work with dielectrics that have a high melting point.

[@m.n.4370]

Well, normally it would be answered with: "There are a lot of gaps even on a polished surface, even if we can't observe them with our eyes. And their volume and irregular structure is actually enough for glue to soak in, harden and become a hook like structure, which provides enough friction and grab force to appear "stuck for good". Also many glues create a chemical bounding and not just weak hydrogen bounding, but actually C - O or even C - C."

[@jblack7054]

So greatful for this video, my banana welds are looking so much better now

[@puffinjuice]

Im pretty sure electro-adhesion is the adhesion when an electric field is used to adhere two surfaces together. Usually very high voltages (kV) are used for electro-adhesion. When the field is removed the electro-adhesion ends. Its is not about permanently gluing surfaces together. Search electro-adhesion and gripper. Youll see lots of grippers which temporarily hold objects.

[@killgaet6253]

the reason the gel became blue was most likely due to Copper reacting with something, since copper salts are generally blue.

[@RussellBeattie]

I always thought glues work at a level far above the atomic scale. Most surfaces have nooks and crannies, liquids flow into those crannies and then harden (sticking to themselves as explained in the video), creating a bunch of micro hooks and jams (like a rock climber cams) that keep the two surfaces connected. How smooth is a copper or graphite plate? Could the electrodes simply be heating the gels sufficiently to cause it to go from semi-solid slightly liquid and then stick through a similar process? Can you do the electroadhesion in a freezer?

[@tenJajcus]

Heating would work the same on both electrodes and would not depend on current flow direction. As it works on single side and is reversible with changed polarity, it cannot be heat alone.

[@joehopfield]

Do mussel byssal thread adhesion next! (Their adhesive works underwater and can stick to glass)

[@cavemann_]

Okay, this is so freaking cool!

[@Quadr44t]

This is great! I love material science/supramolecular chemistry. Back in the day I did major in organic/physical chemistry, with a touch of bionanotechnology. All up that alley.

[@AsmodeusMictian]

Bro. Ya got a new subscriber. Not only is the video really entertaining, but you filmed part of it having/recovering from COVID.

[@chounoki]

It is easy, since there is current flowing through the material, it means electrons flow through the material, which means some electrons are knocked out of the material, otherwise the material should have been completely insulator. With some molecules losing electrons it creates partial ionic bonds. This also explains why only one end of the material close to the anode sticks, because that end loses electrons most. On the other end of the material close to cathode, it is free electrons that rushing into the material instead of the material losing electrons.

[@skysea7785]

Adhesion is caused when adhesive hardens then sticks 2 or more surfaces together. Surfaces are not always smooth, at the microscopic level a paper or other surface of a material is not actually smooth and have rough topography. The adhesive will enter the crevices and pores in the surface, and then it becomes hard, thus sticking them. In the video, it looks like the current applied literally "cooks" or burn the surface of the items forming crystals, and thus sticking them. The only molecule bonding with significant strength for glue is covalent bond. So it isn't just chemistry that plays it's part here but also physical too.

[@BRUXXUS]

Fascinating! You started to allude to it, but this new form of bonding definitely seems to rely on water. I wonder if a conductive gel that doesn't contain water would work. 🤔

[@SianaGearz]

Hello.

[@josephlieberman3027]

Diamonds "C" have an inherent natural affinity for grease, they use this property to obtain diamonds from the bulk pulverized rock, the materials flow along a shaking table which has a sheet of metal coated with grease, the diamonds attach to te grease.

[@pon1]

Interesting! And so simple too, just DC and banana between two copper plates, everyone could do this experiment and test with different substances, could open up a lot of applications, usually when we want to stick and release things with electricity we use electromagnetism, but now we can use this property instead to stick and unstick things :)

[@stevencurtis7157]

_"So does that mean that water is a glue?"_ Yep, as much as any rock.

[@kanayamaryam5088]

I thought at first it was just burning the banana or jello to the metal, but reversing the polarity to undo it is amazing. I wonder what other things could stick, and how important conductivity is to the plate material. Could there be a threshold where you use a very resistive material at a high enough voltage to make it electroadhesive? I kinda want to try these things out. Imagine how super conductors with eletroadhesion might impact quantum computing.

[@ronstiles2681]

Thanks for the video, random information I never knew, or would have spent a minute to find out, but now I feel more informed, I'm better for watching your video, it was not a waste of my time

[@yesthatsam]

Amazing and so entertaining science ! You guys rock once again. Thanks so much ❤

[@pauljs75]

Another thing is a lot of adhesives also use or are their own solvents until whatever reaction occurs that causes them to set or cure. So there might be some aspect of that property at work as well. But I'm not sure what the explanation with that may be.

[@danbhakta]

I "glued" a string to ice when i was a kid using a bit of salt...now I regret never trying to superglue string to ice to see which one gave the better bond.

[@coorbin]

Cool, we're both really close to UMD. Interesting that you were able to drive over and get in touch with the scientists. This is awesome work and I hope we will learn the mechanisms behind this interesting phenomenon.

[@user-zo1kn8ob7h]

6:10 Press your from the expansion of the water turning into ice. The channels being connected from cubed to cube which is often a lot of the noise heard when cracking. Aside of that the ice is dry and so the friction is high and so when you pop the cubes out that also aids the noise

[@user-zo1kn8ob7h]

thesis hypo hypothesis

[@CharlieSolis]

Betcha it works with aerogel for lightweight aircraft and flight structural applications ✈️

[@justinAclark2075]

Water is actually sticky already. That's how it can travel down a single strand of hair. So it makes a lot of sense that ice would stick to literally anything.

[@filipegaspar3572]

Loved this video. I'm a chemist and always found glues to be a misterious material ahah. But the big question for me is ...if it is a so simple setting and it works on a variety of mecanisms so why electroadhesion was only discovered now? It wasn't right?!

[@TiagoTiagoT]

Can you deglue super-glue using a similar electrical setup?

[@Steaphany]

Aren't all adhesives based upon electron - electron interactions ?

[@AreUmygrandson]

When I was in HS (2000s) we used straight Elmer’s glue for things like Mohawks and spikes

[@rotten-Z]

This kind of chemistry happens to me every time a scrambled egg burns in a frying pan.

[@tomholroyd7519]

Reversing the polarity is always the right thing to do

[@Kangsteri]

Water structure affected by different surface tension in contact effects on it's molecular structure. It's the Bernoulli's principle. They often call it 4th or 5th state of water, etc.

[@removechan10298]

i̶s̶ w̶a̶t̶e̶r̶ w̶e̶t̶ is glue glued?

[@CharlieSolis]

Very very cool!

[@ediseverywhere]

Yes. This is a video about electroadhesion. Definitely. 😁 (Excellent video, btw.)

[@alejandroalzatesanchez]

10:26 i loved how he poked fun at the magic of edition.

[@PixelatedPuzzlements]

also mainly electrolysis at play, right?

[@davidg3944]

First time viewing a video from you, and I have to say I'm impressed and intrigued. I am not adhered, however, despite my surplus of hydrogen bonding sites. I'll see if I can fix that using my own stock of copper sheets and a wall outlet...

[@David-sp7gc]

You may get a Darwin Award if your very successful

[@davidg3944]

@@David-sp7gc At worst, I'll never go hungry again...

[@turgityfarms3752]

The blue in the clear gel is captured electrons. Heat will release the electrons and the blue color will go with them.

[@LiborTinka]

This reminds me wondering why even paraffin oil "sticks" to itself (i.e. is viscous) despite being completely nonpolar - why is it viscous and nonvolatile if there is no interaction? I've looked it up -and there is also something called London dispersion force because there is a "sweet spot" distance between atoms and molecules where the electrostatic(?) repulsion is minimized. Oh and by the way even noble gases can stick to themselves - it just takes very low temperatures to see it macroscopically. Like with most things I've learned in school - I remember only that it was the topic on the class, but the teachers worked very hard to make me hate it so I quickly forgot the content. Basically had to re-learn chemistry from ground up...

[@rare.and.important.content]

This just in: scientist discover electrowelding, again

[@christophersmith8014]

Since they're gels my first thought was a vacuum adhesion. The reversibility would make sense.

[@anonymoususer8967]

With the clear Jell-O turning blue, the energy might’ve been dissipated into the color change rather than the electrode. This is completely basic though so do your own research, but it would suggest that the energy could be dissipated through the color or some other reaction with the gelatin that’s not a part of the intended reaction

[@JinKee]

Check surface roughness. Could be mechanical coupling

[@raymondprice-db3ls]

Copper ions are bonding to the anions in the electrolyte at the positive electrode. It's reversible like charging and discharging a battery. Hydrogen is evolving in the case of the negative electrode, where no other bonds to the copper forms.

[@karlharvymarx2650]

I hope this doesn't sound mean, but has anyone verified that that the electrolysis gas on one terminal isn't disrupting the usual "vacuum" seal on that electrode while the other electrode keeps it's "vacuum" seal? By vacuum seal I mean like if you give the banana a good clean suts and press it cut against flat glass, it will probably stick like most things would. What does seem strange to me is that when you ran electricity through jello, only one terminal bubbled--shouldn't there be o2 on one and H2 on the other?