What is the stickiest naturally occurring substance, and how is stickiness measured?

BRY2K

Lint from my dryer. Okay, jus kidding. Bacteria found on the inside of water pipes secrete the strongest glue discovered in nature. Researchers found that the bacteria Caulobacter crescentus is a harmless bacterium that lives in rivers, streams and water pipes. It attaches itself to surfaces with a long, slender stalk tipped with chains of sugar molecules that are three times as strong as commercial 'superglue' products. It can withstand a force equivalent to five tons per square inch. The adhesive would (theoretically) make an excellent waterproof, biodegradable glue to replace sutures and staples in surgery. One of the main challenges will be to find a way to manufacture the glue without it sticking to everything that is used to produce it! The findings appear in the April 11 issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. Brun co-authored the research with Jay Tang, a former IU physicist who now works at Brown University. (no comment yet on how it is measured) http://x1brettstuff.blogspot.com/2006/04/stickiest-bacteria-in-world.html Mar 20 08, 3:45 AM

zbeckabee

The Metrology of stickiness varies dependent upon the item. I would recommend a web search on an item by item basis. Here are a couple of examples: Regarding uBGA units: The conventional method to test whether or not a unit sticks to the carrier tape is the flip-over method. The units to be tested are placed on a carrier tape. It is then turned over. The units that fall off within 10 seconds are considered not sticky. The units that remain on the reel are considered sticky. Regarding Cotton: Because of the variation in the sources of stickiness, testing for stickiness is technically difficult, and poorly understood by cotton buyers and textile mill managers. There is a need to predict the potential stickiness of cotton bales, in such a way that their processing properties can be adequately predicted and efficiently managed. However, there is no general stickiness-testing method that is sufficiently accurate, rapid, and mechanically reliable to enable quantification of sugars in commercial-scale volumes of lint. http://www.depts.ttu.edu/itc/Eric%20class/cotton_stickiness.htm http://www.priorartdatabase.com/IPCOM/000005403/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metrology Mar 20 08, 7:26 AM