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 Sign up to the Veritasium newsletter for weekly science updates - https://ve42.co/Newsletter 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
Super glue has this strange ability to never bond together what I'm trying to glue but sticks to everything else.
sand it
I feel this, too true
Did you watch the video. You're probably trying to bond polyethylene or polyurethane 😂
Every. Single. Time.
Sand it bro😢😅
Okay super glue short, you win, I’ll bite
If only there had been a link in the short. Had to search for it.
Me too 😅
You need to click the titre and it automaticly send you to the long video
Came from the short, too.
Good Marketing to be honest. Not the annoying part 2 crap, but many open questions i now want to know the answer to 😂😂😂
six... seve-
re brainrot😊
5:50 trying to open a bottle of superglue with your teeth is literally one of the things mentioned in Dumb Ways to Die
no it's eat a tube of superglue
@c62y2jshh close enough
You're so confidently wrong
Could be worse could be in your eyes.
Yeah,this dude made the story up. It never happened.
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
9:01 Honesty goes a long way to build trust. I love how he admits that the discovery was accidental rather than researched.
wow
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.
Many discoveries are by accident. Mayonnaise is one molecule away from plastic.
@KX36 read a book called the day after roswell by Col. Phillip J. CORSO. Non Fiction.😊your less than 50 percent correct.
16:05 Kid got lucky his dad didn't invent the nail gun
This comment made my night! Absolutely hilarious. Well done.
I m dying, that was so funny 😭✌🏻
Not enough likes here rofl😂
😂😂😂😂😂
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.
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
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 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
2:30 what a revelation that must've been at the time: this stuff, just a tiny drop of it, can bind almost any two items together.
except it can't - it only binds skin
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
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.
An eyeful doesn’t sound very fun either
Happened to me too when I was 10 lol not a fun experience
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.
Turns out you don't want the general public having access to something like that
Honestly might be better off just learning how to make it
The newer stuff is often gelled who h slows it down.
i saw that multable times peaople gluing quarters to the ground to just stick there.
Agree. It definitely used to be stronger.
5:08 "would you like to take an electron?"
"Nah I'd pass it and give it to the next person"
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
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
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
Fun fact: I found out that super glue will NOT solidify on an eyeball because the eyeball stays moist. The nurse used a Q tip to pull, the most glue he's seen, out of my eyeball. I tried to rub it out first and my finger stuck to my eyelid for a quick second
0:59 “Tonight on Top Gear, Hammond becomes a Chemist…”
I Came here just after watching a top gear episode lmao
lol
top gear is chasing me
Wait...the guy who discovered the use for superglue is named "Joyner"? Joiner? We live in a simulation.
The simulation knew you were going to say that.
Hi simulation 👋
Did you watch the PSR video?
!
I think we’re fine. If his name was Stickem, then I’d be concerned.
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 didn't know I needed a whole documentary on Super Glue.
More vids like this please.
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.
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.
We do the same thing in dental tech, we glue broken dentures together with superglue, make a mould out of a 2 compound putty, break the denture again, remove the leftover glue and part of the denture around the break, place the pieces in the mould and then add new PMMA to the break.
The story at 6:00 is my worst nightmare
10:48 so I shoul hammer my eye to take the supper glue off. Noted.
Easy, get completely hammered and it'll come right off
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
@Relkondone person's problem is another man's solution
16:10 bro why is your first thought as a father when your son gets a cut to try your experimental super glue on it??? 💀
You could look at it the other way... the kid got access to proprietary secret technology just cause of who his dad was. Nepotism!
Dads always have a bunch of solutions awaiting problems to arise.
Be glad it wasn't duct tape
the microplastics had taken over his brain by this point unfortunately.
I take it your not a father.
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
ts is what saved my graduation performance, my acoustics nut fell off when changing the strings and being left handed. I heard the wait times for someone to fix it was 6 weeks min. So I just risked it and tryed superglue and was able to string my guitar. Something so simple can really save us alot of issues
Neat! No one asked or cared,but neat.
I asked and I care
@chickenlover21No,you evidently did not lol I don't see any personal request from yourself here.
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 ?
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...🤔
spongebob chair
I actually study cyanoacrylates for my PhD thessis making hemostatic patches and this video was a nice little recap of the stuff i has to learn along the way.
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
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.
H
Why isn't there some kind of surgical glue available to EMTs who have to stabilize gunshot and stab wounds? Is quick clot better than glue in this situation? I guess all that blood would interfere with bonding anything.
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?
@tpaul0x 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
This is the most practical advice I've heard in a veritasium video.
Also saved myself a bigger problem by covering my finger and thumb on a separate occasion with superglue after slicing them with a knife
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
As someone who has been using this to repair cracks on my natural nails for decades, I could have told you this. Impact. And in the case of natural nails that are water soluble, soaking fingernails in water for several minutes will enable the hardened glue to separate from the water-soaked nails. Long showers or baths without keeping fingernails dry means the glue will loosen and come off.
8:30 “ seek medical attention. “
But my eyes are glued shut
One is and unless you are a special kinda tired or high as a kite you figured out that you put glue in your eye before doing the other
Call 999 perhaps? 😂
Ba dum tss
19:11 - i bet the other doctors and nurses went "wtf sre you doing jason?! One of the staff brought that to fix their chair!"
😂
Man, understanding how things work is just so neat.
The perfection of a man named "Joiner (Joyner)" being involved in a glue story lol
Yes God has a wonderful sense of humor 😊
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.
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?
@BornMusicDie 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? 😭😭
I love the way she describes a solvent!
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.
@veritasium - 2025-02-07
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@hadiromence - 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