Veritasium - 2025-01-28
Why does superglue always stick to your hands and never what you want it to? Get a little smarter every day with Brilliant. Visit https://brilliant.org/veritasium for a 30-day free trial and 20% off your annual premium subscription. A heartfelt thank you to Dr. Allison Christy and Dr. John Bobo for their invaluable expertise, fresh perspectives, and explanations. Thank you to Emily Von Stein and Chris Masahiro at Aron Alpha, Dr. Chantelle Champagne, and Dr. Rohit Gupta for their time and contributions to the initial research that laid the groundwork for this project. Try Snatoms! A molecular modelling kit I invented where the atoms snap together. https://ve42.co/SnatomsV ANIMATION CORRECTION: At 4:52, the negative charge should be drawn on the carbon at the end of the chain, not on the second to last carbon. This also holds during the polymerization process (5:15), where the negative charge should move right to the end of the chain. ▀▀▀ 0:00 The Invention of Super Glue 2:43 How Does Super Glue Work? 5:38 How To Get Superglue Off Your Skin 8:33 Why Is Super Glue So Strong? 12:00 Why Doesn’t Super Glue Work on plastic? 13:45 Mixing Super Glue and Baking Soda 15:30 Using Super Glue Underwater 15:59 Super Glue On Wounds 19:47 A Solution To Microplastics? ▀▀▀ References and Credits: Dr. Harry Coover Jr. (Nov 2023) via Sutori - https://ve42.co/sutori Allison Christy, Closed-loop recyclable plastics from poly(ethyl cyanoacrylate) - https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adg2295 About Cyanoacrylate Adhesives. via Permabond - https://ve42.co/permab Kodak Eastman In Wikipedia - https://ve42.co/kodakw Harry Coover and the Invention of Super Glue. (Mar 2022) via SciHi Blog - https://ve42.co/scihio Humphrey Sam Samuel (May 2024). Cyanoacrylate Chemistry and Polymerization Mechanisms. - https://ve42.co/pcbioc Radical polymerization.. In Wikipedia - https://ve42.co/wikira Overview of materials for Cyanoacrylate Adhesive. via MATWEBb - https://ve42.co/matweb United States Patent Office: US2776232. (Jan 1957) via US patent office - https://ve42.co/patentb Medical Grade Cyanoacrylate Adhesive Market Size Growth Report. (Nov 2024) via Linkedin - https://ve42.co/linkpu Science Channel. (Dec 2017). Think Super Glue Can Lift A Pickup Truck? via Youtube - https://ve42.co/ytbpee Loctite & Teroson UK. (Apr 2023). Learn How Loctite SF 7452 Can Accelerate Bonding When using Loctite 454 via Youtube - https://ve42.co/loctiteg Image and Video Credits LOCTITE® North America. (May 2017). Loctite 4902FL Highly Flexible Cyanoacrylate via Youtube - https://ve42.co/loctitef The Gorilla Glue Company. (May 2021). How To Use Gorilla Super Glue via Youtube - https://ve42.co/gluehowt Flex Seal. (Nov 2022). Flex Super Glue Commercial - The Flex Seal Family of Products via Youtube - https://ve42.co/flexglue ewjxn. (Nov 2020). 1984 Instant Krazy Glue Strong enough to hold this woman TV Commercial.mp4 via Youtube - https://ve42.co/krazyglue tvdays. (Nov 2007). ELMERS GLUE 1960.mp4 via Youtube - https://ve42.co/elmer Aron Alpha Industrial Krazy Glue. (Feb 2024). The Leader in High Performance Instant Adhesives via Youtube - https://ve42.co/aronalpha How researchers turned superglue into a cheap plastic alternative by via fastcompany - https://ve42.co/superplastic Woman Mistakenly Uses Glue Instead Of Eye Drops by via CBS News - https://ve42.co/eyegludd Further References: https://ve42.co/refsuperglue ▀▀▀ Special thanks to our patrons for sticking around! Adam Foreman, Albert Wenger, Alexander Tamas, Anton Ragin, Autodidactic Studios, Bertrand Serlet, Blake Byers, Bruce, Dave Kircher, David Johnston, Evgeny Skvortsov, Farbod Mansorian, Garrett Mueller, Gnare, gpoly, Greg Scopel, I. H., Juan Benet, KeyWestr, Kyi, Lee Redden, Marinus Kuivenhoven, Matthias Wrobel, Meekay, meg noah, Michael Krugman, Orlando Bassotto, Paul Peijzel, Richard Sundvall, Sam Lutfi, Spilmann Reed, TTST, Tj Steyn, Ubiquity Ventures, wolfee Join us on Patreon for early access videos, bonus content, and to support Veritasium! https://ve42.co/PatreonDE Live on Patreon now is an exclusive unseen interview with Chantelle Champagne https://www.patreon.com/posts/121045719 ▀▀▀ Directed by Sulli Yost Written by Sulli Yost and Derek Muller Edited by Peter Nelson Assistant Editor - James Stuart Illustrated by Jakub Misiek and Caine Esperanza Animated by Emma Wright, Andrew Neet and Fabio Albertelli Filmed and demos done by Sulli Yost, Derek Muller and Wylie Overstreet Additional research by Geeta Thakur Produced by Sulli Yost, Derek Muller, Rob Beasley Spence and Tori Brittain Thumbnail contributions by Ren Hurley, Peter Sheppard, Ben Powell Additional video/photos supplied by Getty Images, Storyblocks Music from Epidemic Sound and Jonny Hyman
I used to work at lowes. Our forklift forks were often dragged on concrete in outside garden such that the ends of them become razor sharp over the years. One time somebody left the fork up, and as I walked around an isle corner, my arm brushed along it. I didn't even realize until I had blood everywhere, because the cut was so clean. Immediately went to the adhesives isle, grabbed some super glue, and glued the wound shut instead of getting stitches. It healed perfectly.
So, you're saying that the forklifts were turned into knifelifts?
staplerfahrer Klaus was a documentary
This has been my go to for cuts for 20 Years, it works great!
@@cmdr.shurimal8980 Underrated comment , I applaud you my guy
What happens when the place recovers?@@growsomeplace9987
Just from that thumbnail, I can already feel the pain of trying to remove super glue from your fingers
Acetone, easy peasy
Just use acetone or rubbing alcohol. Nail polish remover works too. Edited thanks to someone pointing out my mistake.
Think of the eye thing
Why would you feel the pain of removing super glue from somebody else's fingers?
The weirdest indicator that your getting old is that you no longer notice superglue on you fingers
Eye doctor here. I've taken care of a few dozen people who have done exactly what Derek shows at 8:20. I still see between 1 and 3 patients a year who do this. As he talks about, though, the glue polymerizes from water, so what I tend to see happen is that the glue that comes into contact with the surface of the eyes doesn't actually stick - the water makes it polymerize to itself without sticking to the tissues of the eye well. BUT! It does stick really well to the eyelids and eyelashes, and what tends to happen is that all of your eyelashes get glued together, sealing your eye shut pretty well. Honestly, the worst one was a lady who was wearing a contact lens at the time, so the glue not only glued her eyelashes together, but also formed a continuous sheet of glue encompassing the contact lens and the eyelashes. Also when the glue polymerizes rapidly, the edges of it tend to be pretty rough, so she had this rough patch of glue rubbing against her eyeball until I could get the whole thing unstuck. Very unpleasant!
In addition to loving Dermabond (try scrubbing for surgery or using hand sanitizer between patients with a little cut on the skin - there's a reason someone taped a label "Paper Cut Finder" a bottle of hand sanitizer in our office) for little scrapes, we also use it to intentionally glue the eye, specifically the cornea. If someone has a really bad infection and the cornea becomes thin or perforates, you can slap a tiny dab of superglue on the wound, and it'll usually seal quite well. Then, put a drop of sterile saline or antibiotic drops on the surface to polymerize all the glue, and put a contact lens over the eye so the rough surface of the glue doesn't cause pain when the back of the eyelid rubs against it, and it's a really effective way to possibly avoid surgery, or prevent an infection from spreading until you can get a patient into the OR.
Edit: since so many people asked and it's cumbersome to respond to everyone - For everyone asking how you remove the glue: it really depends on what’s stuck. I haven’t, but I do know other docs who have used very small dabs of acetone or very dilute acetone (just make sure you don't get any in the eye itself) to loosen things up a bit. Another way to remove it is to cut the eyelashes at the base (basically, right where the eyelashes come out of the eyelid skin). It looks funny for a few weeks before the lashes grow back, but it’s basically harmless. Once the eyelashes are cut, it’s pretty easy to open the lids. If there’s not much glue, you can sometimes use a fairly beefy pair of forceps (fancy tweezers) and crush small amounts of the glue between the tines, and as it fractures, you can slide it off the lashes. It just depends on the situation. The lady with the contact lens glued in, I forget exactly but I couldn’t get the glue all out the first day. I think I cut some of her lashes and freed things up as best I could, then had to wait a day or two for the glue to loosen up before I could get out the big plaque that had some of her lashes and the contact lens encased. She had some gnarly scratches on her cornea which where exceedingly uncomfortable, but fortunately healed quickly and completely and she had no issues the last time I saw her (which was at least 5 years ago, if memory serves).
Thank you! i was curious about this!
Your description of super glue + contacts patient gives me some heart, seeing that you and hopefully many other doctors are aware of what uncomfortable positions your patients are often in. Having been in some gnarly situations in front of doctors, I sometimes have felt like they were heartless, though I've always assumed it was them trying to maintain the calm control of the situation we seem to expect of doctors.
Thanks for the awesome comment. Glad to know you do appreciate what your patients experience.
@@kruksog In my experience (and given my condition I have quite a bit of experience), medical professionals, particularly nurses and nursing assistants, tend to be some of the most compassionate people I know. I think it's, as you seem to have realized,, a mistake to conflate their attempts to control one's emotions in a stressful situation with heartlessness.
You've gotta cut me mick!
New fear
In the early 70s we were given a new adhesive called super glue. I worked for a business machine company as a repairman. The new glue found many uses. Being young, I used it to glue a quarter to the metal corner of a pool table at our local hangout. A year later it was still there, edges rounded from removal attempts. I swear the glue was stronger than what is on sale to the public today.
9:01 Honesty goes a long way to build trust. I love how he admits that the discovery was accidental rather than researched.
wow
@enkilugal3282 I thought the same thing. I'm always amazed by how much of our everyday lives depends on things that were accidentaly discovered during research.
@enkilugal3282 More like isn't it amazing that so many breakthroughs are brought about by war. Yet we avoid it like the plague and try to soften society so much we expel those ideas immediately as forbidden. I'm afraid the fear of offense will inflict more destruction than the offenses themselves.
Several discoveries were accidental. I remember that Teflon was discovered by accident. It happened at a Dupont research facility. They were trying to make a refrigerant of Fluor and Acetylen. But the gas stopped coming and the pressure dropped in the bottle until it was basically so low it should be called empty. Yet the bottle weighed too much to be empty. When opening it they found a waxy material in the bottle that was strangely slippery. This was PTFE, or what we usually call Teflon. The gas they tried to produce had reacted with the iron in the bottle as a catalyst into PTFE, so this was a totally accidental discovery.
In scientific circles this is sometimes called a "that's strange" discovery. When you do something expecting a certain result and getting something totally unexpected.
A lot of famous "accidental" discoveries were most likely not accidental at all but the result of a lot of good science. The stories of accidental discoveries are often invented for publicity.
1:28 Of course "Fred Joyner" was involved in developing an adhesive for joining things!
Haha went here to comment but you beat me to it 😂
Whoever names ppl for our simulation is running out of ideas.
Fred "Joiner" Joyner
Reminds me of the paper on nominative determinism in hospital medicine by Limb, Limb, Limb, and Limb.
I
23:23 I love how the person representing the team of researchers who are trying to solve the one of the greatest modern problems (the plastic problem) has a SpongeBob gaming chair
Spongebob Jumpscare
That's because the plastic that we dump in the ocean, reaches Bikini Bottom, and Spongebob hates that. There, got the lore for you xD
Most accurate interview with an average working scientist ever
yes exactly, heck yeah
@@Skyhigh91100Agreed 😊 I work in labs and most "scientists" are like her, not the stereotype we see in movies! Love to see accurate representation
In woodworking, we exploit the weak shear strength of super glue.
It is often used to temporarily attach objects, then remove them with the quick tap of a mallet perpendicular to the direction of the polymer chain.
That combined with its ability to be easily catalyzed to rapidly speed up the bond make super glue a versatile and valuable tool in any woodworking shop.
I'm a guitar repair tech and we use superglue for lots of little stuff. On the more interesting side we use it in combo with baking soda to fill bone nut slots and it gets lots of use in finish repairs - if there's a chip in your clearcoat we drop some in, it fills every void, let it harden then sand it flat and polish it up to a perfectly smooth surface and it blends in completely invisibly. It's used a lot on fretboard fibres too, little bits of chip out can be filled with glue & matching sawdust and once sanded to match they pretty much disappear.
I see this on metalworking and lathe videos too! People super glue parts to a holder in the chuck.
How do you know which direction the polymer chains are going in?
I absolutely love how this super-knowledgable scientist you interviewed has a spongebob gamer chair (11:05)!
I was going to mention the same thing ))))))
you can see at her glasses that she just seeks attention
@@t.schreiner5864 Nice misogyny you got there.
@@t.schreiner5864 booooo just let people be happy
Bro she has a PhD wtf are you on @@t.schreiner5864
As a polymer scientist, I was super glued to the screen for 26 mins straight!! What a great video about the discovery and uses of this incredible Cyano-Acrylate polymer !! The scientist lady was so cool too.. thanks derek for this video..
Super glued to the screen 😂
What’s a polymer scientist do?? U makin more glue? PVC? Idk im jus curious lol
you'll need some acetone to free your eyes from the screen 😅
As a polymer scientist, surely you would have caught on to his remark about other polymers only being able to be recycled mechanically being totally wrong.
Many of the currently used polymers can be broken down to monomers just like mentioned in the video. It's not some miraculous invention specifically for super glue.
I don't believe another type of plastic added to the pile of already hundreds of plastic types will help with sustainability, even if the new one is "sustainable". It won't move the mountains of garbage plastics that are already out there. We need to focus on processing those.
@@deramon1000 there are worms and bacteria that are able to break down plastics now. We need biotech to synthesize synthetic life. We have reached a point where synthetic biology should be readily usable to do pretty much anything you can think of, including synthesis of chemicals.
I learned the water acting as a catalyst thing decades ago working as an electrical engineer. The LocTite rep was in the plant and handing out samples and stuff (that was always great, he'd give us bags of goodies with adhesives I'd never even heard of) and held a presentation in the break room for whoever wanted to attend. Which was pretty much everybody. Someone asked him a question why they were having issues with a certain adhesive they were using in the clean room. He said "What's the relative humidity in there?" They said "Oh, we keep that place dry as a bone." He laughed and said "You didn't read the data sheet, for dry environments you need to lightly wet the surfaces with a fine mist sprayer. We sell one just for this purpose." And I said "You mean that superglue needs water to cure?" He said "Yes, absolutely. It's critical. Just not too much."
I have the worst luck with adhesives, I must be from the other side of the galaxy. Maybe I'm not getting it wet enough, I usually fog it up like when cleaning one's glasses, never sticks. That is why I'm watching.
Time to use the scientific method to learn what what works best for you@@bardmadsen6956
@@bardmadsen6956 It's usually plenty humid enough to cure just fine. If you think it's too dry, just breathe on the items you want to glue a few times. It doesn't take much.
That's interesting, the other day I was trying to super glue something together and it just wouldn't work. That day happened to be 5% humidity (we were having a massive dry spell). I wonder if that was the cause now. Next time we get really dry weather, I will have to try the water trick.
Thanks for sharing that story! Years ago as a student i was working in a local company producing glues, making the extruded bottle caps. Best students job for a chem.eng student ever. Lots of time when all is working well to read and when the book I had was read, I jumped on the extensive company technical library. I constantly spoke to much older colleagues on which glue is best for what and why. So many stories, i wish I remembered even more
It was not before some five years ago (2020?), despite the Medical Super Glue exiting since 1964, that I learned I could use regular super glue to close small wounds in places that do not flex much. It saves me a lot of pain in the workshop. You know that little pain that follows you up for 3-4 days because you cut your finger in the shop? Superglue it. It also kills any bacteria and it heals without any infection. Great stuff! Veritasium is top notch in content, thanks Derek!
Did you watch the video? Regular Super Glue should not be used on wounds.

I took an interview recently, and was asked the question, "pick a topic that you have good understanding of and write a two paragraph explanation of it citing links".
Derek takes these in his sleep, as he mumbles and turns. Never thought I'd enjoy a video about super glue.
Be blessed Veritasium!
That's a cool way to do an interview! What did you end up writing about if you don't mind?
Im curious about the answer myself. I did something similar at University but not sure what kind of job would ask that blanket question.
@@KalaimGaming The position was AI tutor, it was among the proctored tests between cognitive and behavioural sets of all questions asked. I ended up writing about what I love, and did my best to explain the interoperability between APIs and SDKs in relation to security and scalability.
@_kenothia ohh, neat. I saw some jobs for AI training and was surprised at what qualifications they were looking for at the time.
I love that he made this video, I have been using superglue my whole life
8:24 thanks for the new super glue in eyes phobia 💀
Nightmare fuel
Man that was real horror
Ok easy fix! Don't store them in the same place.
Yeah, that part made me physically uncomfortable
It happened to me before, It's not that bad. Or I just got lucky I'm not sure.
This video was in my auto playlist and the moment you explained how brittle is superglue against shear forces happened at the EXACT MOMENT I found two tools glued together by a leaky superglue bottle in my toolbox. So I can confirm it worked like a charm to separate them.
Superglue is EXACTLY what we use in the emergency room to glue cuts.
It's called by various names but the ingredient is always cyanoacrylate.
It falls off in about 5days.
perfect for cracked hands in the winter.
Truckers have known this for years.
The brittleness and fast setting makes it perfect for temporary fixturing in woodworking. Put a few drops strategically spread out on one workpiece, spray the other with accelerator and they fuse within seconds when placed together with no need for any clamping. Holds up to the stress of running through any common power tool operations. Then once you're done, the low resistance to shear force means one quick hammer blow (that won't damage the material at all if you do it right) makes it pop apart just as fast. And because of the high tensile strength requires such a small amount of glue there's minimal residue to remove, which tends to chip off cleanly without any stretching, again thanks to the brittleness.
@@spazmonkey3815it gets too hot, it’s brittle so has no flexion., just makes my skin tear open again and again. I found a more flexible wound glue meant for veterinary care though and don’t have issues with that
One last video before bed.....
Same lol
😭
Same lol
I'm watching on 2x so I can fall asleep sooner 😭
How did you know
That explains why I couldn't dilute superglue with water! As someone whose skull has been superglued back together (not as bad as it sounds), I can confirm it's a very strong bond. One of the coolest videos I've seen in a long time!
So you tried to unglue your skull with water after the doctors glued it?
@@ArbitrageLucasPeet I bet he tried to dilute superglue to make his own homemade homeopathic superglue an an infinite money glitch. Nice try Jesse!
im sorry what
Ayy! I had that too :D It's kinda cool, right? I probably didnt have it as badly, but a crack in the skull, some glue, and i'm fine nearly a decade later :D
What. How do u glue ur skull together
6:05 this part makes me happy that even ppl who seem super smart on internet still make some stupid mistakes sometime haha
No matter how smart you are, you still make dumb mistakes.
k
I audibly yelled “OOOOOOOOHHHH NOOOOOOOO!” As he said it exploded in his mouth.
Woke up my wife. Lol
I just screamed at the eye section.
I think I might have a new phobia…
well duh, we’re humans after all
Got a few minutes in and suddenly realized, I know her!
So glad Allison got her PhD. She presented the research to my class about a year before the paper was finally published. Very nice, brought samples of the polymers for us to look at, and stuck around to answer stupid questions from all the freshman engineering students.
Did you get to hear about the pine-scented co-polymers that stunk up the lab? :)
Fun fact - we do not care
Fun fact - That’s lit. Pine scented sounds freshening
@@Rust_Rust_Rustwe do not care about your pathetic existence
@@Rust_Rust_Rust Brother, who's we? Speak for yourself.
@@Rust_Rust_Rust fun fact - leave
Ahhhhh now I understand why connecting two different rocks with a cotton patch and super glue in a terrarium to bond them together makes the cotton smoke for a couple of seconds. Amazing video!
Fun Fact: While in most languages, the glues aspect of being super strong is emphasized (Super Glue), some other languages such as Dutch or German emphasize it's short bonding time by calling it "Sekundenkleber" / "Secondelijm" (Glue of Seconds / Instant Glue).
In danish we use both "superlim" and "sekundlim" (super glue and second glue) to describe it.
In Colombia we call it Magic Drop (Gota Mágica)
In Turkish it's called Japanese glue because a Japanese brand sold it first in the 80's..
In Venezuela we call it "pega loca", it means "crazy glue" 😄
Sudden glue maybe sounds better
This video had me glued to the screen
Get the acetone.
I see what you did there...!
This comment had me glued to the screen
This video made me get sticky stuff all over my screen
Stop sandpaper'ing your screen.
A mouthful of superglue sounds terrifying!!
Trying to open a tube of super glue with your mouth does come close to a Darwin award though. Even smart people can do dumb things! 😄
Yuk
He forgot to not tell that story.
@@sp00n Sometimes you just do things so fast that even before the consequences comes to you thought those consequences has already happened.
An eyeful doesn’t sound very fun either
23:31 the SpongeBob chair was a jumpscare
Everything about her says "I am not a plastics research scientist". I like it.
I love her lol
I've always kept super glue in the workshop medical kit and have glued up many cuts over the years. It's quick, only slightly painful and the cuts heal quickly without scars. My sister, a nurse, once saw me doing this and told me I should see a doctor instead of just gluing it up. I said "ok" and went and saw the doctor while she waited outside. The doctor took one look. asked me how I sealed it, I told him, he asked me to bend my finger, which I did, and just said "ok all good". That was it, in and out in 5 minutes. My sister couldn't believe it until she went to work and asked a surgeon if superglue was good for sealing cuts and if it was dangerous to do so. His answer, as long as the cut was clean and didn't interfere with any tendons or arteries then it was absolutely ok to seal a cut with superglue. I like it when I get something right, it doesn't happen often, so I celebrate a win when I do.
congratulations on the win, bud. experimentation and curiosity always eventually lead to wins.
my go to method is soak a thin string (nylon) close the cut then wrap it with that string or place it like it is a stitch, works like a charm, specially good for cuts around fingers.
I always thought Superglue was developed as a wound sealer (probably military) I probably need to watch this at some point.
recently heard a former UFC champ (Rampage Jackson) talk about superglue and that this was his go to way to deal with cuts during a training camp.
at first i thought "that doesnt sound healthy" but with this video as context its actually genius
@EndertheWeek I'd read the same thing, I think they used it in Vietnam to seal wounds, and that's when I decided to make it part of my workshop med kit. I also carry some in my truck and in my motorcycle saddlebags just in case. Apparently, it can be used to glue things as well...🤔
dude i love her spongebob chair thats fire
You're not the only one
Came here to say the same thing
a fire spongebob chair indeed fellow turtle
She even has his glasses.
Hit you up a thesaurus.
I'm a surgeon and I almost always use Dermabond to close the top most layer of skin (no sutures or staples). Dermabond is basically medical grade superglue. It has longer carbon chains so it polymerizes slower and gives off less heat, but in a pinch, superglue would do the trick. If you use it at home-work, the cut must be cleaned VERY well or you're going to seal in bacteria and the wound will pus out. Also, don't use it on big cuts (obviously), cuts of the faces (obviously), or scrapes or gashes where the skin edges can't be approximated.
Why is it impossible to buy dermabond or any equivalent?
@@321tryagain I think there are some liquid bandage products available over the counter like "New Skin". Any product with something something acetate or acrylate in it would be similar. At the price Ethicon sells Dermabond to hospitals (box of 12 is ~$200), they probably figure there would be a limited market, and I guarantee they're not going to drop the price for consumers. Plus, they'd likely have to get FDA approval for over the counter sales and that cost money.
regular superglue might work, but as he said it's also toxic, soooo I would recommend not using that if Dermabond is not available?
@@lachouette_et_le_phoque It's not "toxic" per se. Dermabond is octyl-2 cyanoacrylate, superglue is ethyl-2 cyanoacrylate BUT adverse health effects have not been evaluated beyond "it's not extremely hazardous if it gets on your skin" and it's never been approved for human use.
Thanks, tried to get this information from some doctors and a biologist. There was a movie with some tough guys beaten each other in a battle and sticking the wounds with lots of powerclue. What is this clue the nail artist use ?
6:13 “Luckily it didn’t glue together anything essential.”
That would have been an embarrassing ER visit.
I don't know what sets it apart from the rest, but this is my favourite kind of Veritasium video. Superglue being brittle makes a lot of sense because I've always been frustrated at how it would almost never work for me, but didnt dig deeper. Now i know that 1) the surfaces were too smooth, and 2) while trying to test if the glue had made a good bond, I'd apply too much force in the wrong direction and undo all work! Thanks Derek and team!
I kinda worked this out a long time ago, you can clearly see super glue is brittle.
It's kind of funny how many invention stories go this way.
"I was trying to invent a completely different product, but I guess I made this in the process".
Reminds me of the WD-40 story
lsd
Like the chinese AI right now?
“There are no mistakes, just happy little accidents.”
-Bob Ross
All the struggle with casting a super-sticky substance, and he had to show it to someone else before the thought... 'this would make an interesting glue...'
We glue Corals with Superglue. All of them. We just cut pieces of a larger coral and glue them wherever we want.
This is one of the most fun things to tell people when they ask about my aquarium. Explaining how we glue Coral with Cyanoacrylate and what the origin of it is.... amazes people.
There are some more topics in Corals and Reefs you could take on! There are some crazy things going on under the water.
I love this, thank you for sharing!! Coral and coral farming is so interesting
I use it in fresh for attaching plants like bucephalandra or anubias.
I have seen that a lot on aquascaping videos. I have always wondered if Medical Super Glue (DermaBond) would be better due to it not releasing toxins and being more flexible?
Curious, has anyone done any tests to see if super glue might be releasing PFAS into an aquarium, when corals are fastened in this manner, or is super glue completely inert once it cures(?)
@@__WJK__ cyanoacrylate doesn't contain any "fluoro-" groups (the F in PFAS) so it's unrelated (nor does polypropylene, the most likely thing the bottle is made from.)
This is one of the most interesting videos you have done recently! Thank you! A comment, if I may. A few years ago, I owned a pair of sneakers that the laces absolutely would not stay tied. I decided to put a drop of super glue on each knot and solve that problem once and for all. To my surprise, both knots started smoking and startled me thinking they were going to catch fire. After a few seconds they stopped and all seemed normal. I have used super glue for many, many years. I was in high school in the late 50s and early 60s and I remember some people came to our school and put on a demonstration in the auditorium for the entire school as to the strength of super glue. Later as a farm mechanic and community jack-of-all trades, I used it often. And still do.
I use super glue to seal painful cracked dry skin on the tips of my fingers in the winter. I once used baking soda to quicken the reaction and discovered firsthand it was an exothermic reaction! As the tip of my finger was burning, I questioned every decision in my life that brought me to this situation! 😂
Pro-tip: Use a good lotion for dry skin.
@@chrimonyWow! Amazing! I don't think anyone ever thought of that!
@@Cynthia63636 I'm responding to the person using superglue to seal cracks on their skin in winter.
@@Cynthia63636clearly the guy who was super gluing their fingers with baking soda wasn't lol
@@chrimonyYou can put the best moisturizer on your hands 10 times a day and for some people their fingers still crack
I'm glad you went over why it hardens super fast when put in water.
I pretty regularly use superglue in place of a band aid, and when I don't have time to let it dry, I run it under water real quick. it doesn't dry clear, but is ridiculously fast.
it can release toxins so , I'm sure it is fine for small wounds tho
It also kills off some of the heat it produces while bonding so it's quite an effective method
@@sayorancodeyou can buy medical grade super glue, but it's expensive. I buy super glue intended for veterinary use. Still cheap, but they make sure it's not contaminated with toxins.
This is perfect timing because I have skin and sometimes it gets cut
wow, same!
Unbelievable, I thought I was the only one!
This sounds like an alien masquerading as a human
YES I ALSO HAVE THAT PROBLEM DEFINITELY
Ive long had a first aid kit that's primarily super glue and electrical tape. Both are sterile, as well.
As a 3D printing hobbyist I use superglue quite a bit and always manage to get some on my hands, today I learned a few new things
1. why it sticks to my hands so well
2. why its so great at sticking PLA
3. That it wont work as well with PETG (I dont use that much, mainly PLA)
Great video
I love how you 'glow up', the people you interview, by editing and interjecting to make their explanations more intuitive.
It's a great way to have a real scientist without it becoming inaccessible. The science communicator acts a bridge between the scientist and the audience.
Dr. Allison should be a famous communicator, IMO. She very well spoken and clearly knows her ChemTech. I was hoping she had a channel or some place to follow her.
He doesnt "Glow them up" he turns technical language into language that is accessible to the general public. It's pretty insulting to the experts he features who are highly educated in their fields hence why he features them in his videos. Hes not smarter than them per say, hes just good at making what they say understandable to YOU
5:50 Veritasium just casually droping dad lore. Cool story, now, i am afraid of supergluing my mouth and throut together.
@veritasium: I gave you water when you were in Waterloo at perimeter institute (beside Enigma)
I have a similar story to your crazy glue in the mouth story! When I was a kid I was opening a small bottle of krazy glue with a pin. I had the pin perched in my mouth and was using two hands to push the bottle onto the pin. The pin pushed through and the glue squirted out almost sealing my mouth shut. I called to my mother for help and she just said"did you glue your mouth shut? Hallelujah!"
I noticed that my tongue and teeth were not stuck. My lips, on the other hand, were glued shut.
@@abuapellius6377hilarious image mate
Reassuring to know that even people as smart as Veritasium still do dumb stuff sometimes.
I swear to god my blood ran cold when he started describing what happened hahaha
His wife was picking it out with tweezers? I'd be in the EMERGENCY ROOM
12:11 “Filmmaker” is an absolutely delightful way to describe what Wylie does
Small correction at 12:51 : PET, which is commonly used for bottles like the one shown, actually stands for Polyethylene terephthalate while PE stands for Polyethylene
Never thought I would be watching 27 min long video on super glue. Kudos to veritasium for making such amazing videos !
I always thought I would be.
@@JackAceINC I mean I always thought that the working principle behind super glue or any glue as matter of fact is not that complex. So it was really surprising to see this much science behind it 😅
Liquid bandage is also made out of cyanoacrylate and can be used for medical purposes. My dad was in the Marines and he always has a small amount of liquid bandage somewhere on him or around the house. It’s great when you have a cut you can’t easily put a bandaid on. I remember cutting my toes on the plastic laundry basket as a kid and they just gushed out blood. And it was the kind of wound you can’t easily put a bandage on so we had to use liquid bandage.
Liquid bandage is usually PVP or a cellulose dissolved in a solvent. It works by drying out, not through a polymerisation process like cyanoacrylate does.
@@321tryagain Also there's phenol formaldehyde resins dissolved in alcohol (used to glue plywood). It's not approved by FDA, but in Russia we use that as affordable skin glue.
@@saiv46 Whoa, if something doesn’t get approved by the FDA, that must mean something. I know phenol formaldehyde as a plastic, and as far as I know, it’s chemical compounds are really unhealthy
I recently discovered liquid bandage and love it for small, oddly-shaped cuts (I have cats). My bottle looks to be cellulose in a cocktail of acetones, acetates, and alcohol.
Back in around 1987, if I had to guess, was gluing the hosel of a golf club to the head and squeezed the two together. The glue shot into my eye and glued it shut. Recall the ER used drops and a special light to dissolve the glue, lesson learned.
Sounds like they used something UV-reactive to break down the bonds!
I have a chipped tooth that got repaired with this putty stuff that set under UV!
I work for a company that creates the precursor compound to surgical glue. We make the non-sticky (but very viscous and unbearably smelly) acetate, and our customer pops on a carbon to make the acrylate glue. I've known for a few years that the only difference between conventional super glue and surgical glue is the number of carbons in the chain, so it was really cool to see you guys do a full in-depth video on it to learn some of the historical context.
Fun Fact: During the Behind the Scenes for FlexGlue's debut commercial, they did close-up shots using a single drop of the glue. Usually they film multiple takes and composite the best parts together to make a really good shot. During the first take, the glue held together so strongly that they had to saw the pieces apart. It wasn't even meant to be part of the demonstration shown later in the ad. That was a separate mechanism that was glued together.
I passed out once and fell directly onto my chin and when I went to the ER the doctor pretty much used super glue to close it up.
@@sandhanitizer15 I used it one time :) for a small cut
Passed out from what?
@@FilmThePoliceFTP Blood sugar, seizure, blood pressure, heart attack, stroke, pain, shock. Could be anything
@@orreobbThat's exactly why it's frustrating that he doesn't state why he passed out
Is that the big homie Stick Stickly in your avatar? 😭😭
back to back veritasium videos. lets gooo!!!
dude... get sum friends
First Kendrick, now him!? xD
Still waiting on my Thermite Part II video.
@@illexsquid & im still waiting for you to keep ur trap shut...!!! so guess we both not gna get it...
11:29 also, as a bio/medical nerd that knows only cursory physics...
Shear force is what causes hemolysis (breaking up of blood cells) in most blood draws that are henolyzed. Many nurses I talk to think it's more of an impact force, often thinking we in the lab vigorously shake the samples or something, but nope...
It's a result of the blood cells basically experiencing a differntial of acceleration across the cell, where one edge tries to move much more than the other edge. The cells are pretty resistant to typical impact forces, it's only when they sorta "stick" to the walls of something they're flowing through that they're kinda sheared apart.
At least, that's my limited understanding, as someone that works in a hospital lab and has a decent biomedical background but not as great of a physics background
I’m excited to watch this video. My grandfather is an old country hick who’s been making wooden percussion instruments by hand for 50 years. It’s his own company and he supplies a lot of high schools around the US. He lives in the middle of nowhere in a town with 1 gas station, 1 church, and the nearest grocery store is 30 minutes away. Nearest hospital I’m not sure but i think about an hour and a half away. He has his own shop with tons of heavy machinery and cuts down trees from his own 200 acre lot of land in the southeastern US for some of the wood he uses. He’s injured himself countless times but he’s the living breathing embodiment of “ah it’ll be fine I’ll just super glue it”. He even cut off the first knuckle of one of his fingers with a table saw once and just super glued it back on. When my grandmother finally convinced him to go to the hospital, they got there and the doctors were like… i mean probably wasn’t super sanitary to do what you did but honestly it’s just as good as what we could’ve done and at this point it’s already glued on and reattaching itself/healing so…. Nothing we can do. 😂😂😂😂 the only time he’s ever gone to the hospital willingly was about 30 years ago when he had a chainsaw kick on him and bounced out of the tree into his face and cut an inch of his upper lip. Which was horrible because his side job was a concert trombonist. So that kinda screwed him up for several years. I’ve used super glue my whole life for basic wounds. Sanitize them with hydrogen peroxide and super glue the cut and get on with my day. Lol
Edit: not that it matters but i just realized he did actually go willingly 2 other times. Once when he was working on the roof of his 3 story house he built and while getting down, his scaffolding collapsed and he broke his clavicle. The other was (and he’s insane for this, but he drinks his tea nearly boiling) i don’t know how he does it, i can’t even touch the mug it’s so hot and he just drinks it. Well he fucked up and spilled it on his lap once and gave himself third degree burns. lol, which i mean…. Honestly if you’re carrying around liquid that’s almost boiling, i can’t feel too bad. That’s almost asking for something like that to happen eventually
Thanks for this, do share more of our grandfather 😅
@ I’m not sure if i have anything more to share that’s relevant that i can think of. Not sure if you’re being sarcastic or not lol. But it’s always been weird to me how he’s such a tiny man but has the strength of someone else. I guess that’s old man strength. He’s probably 5’9 or 5’10 and he’s no more than 150 pounds but his string bean ass is strong as hell. As a kid I’d always try to shake his hand and squeeze as hard as possible in some sort of weird contest we had (where he clearly wasn’t trying or he’d have hurt me) but by age 15 or so i started to hurt him and i eventually ‘won’ lol. He still plays trombone for concerts on the side. Mostly as a backup when a local orchestra needs an extra trombonist. I have more stories about that but those are hardly relevant to this video lol
@veritasium - 2025-02-07
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@zerrinozen1475 - 2025-02-07
Lol 2 hours ago
@timfitzsimmons8663 - 2025-02-07
Note: I get @smartereveryday with Destin @smartereveryday
Great video as usual.
@scarthelett4600 - 2025-02-08
John 14:8 – If God is all you have, you have all you need.
Psalm 46:1 - God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Romans 8:18 - The Pain You've Been Feeling Can't Compare To The Joy That's Coming.
Exodus 14:14 - The Lord Will Fight For You , You Just Need To Be Still.
Jesus loves you all✝️💟
May God guide you throughout your whole entire life and lead you to the right path of life‼️
@hldavies85 - 2025-02-09
I did not read all that. Thanks bec now I have better knowledge 🎉🎉
@mrtitanhearted3832 - 2025-02-11
Really appreciate 8:20. Now I know what to do if that happens