A riveting piece titled “Adhesives, Adhesion and Tape” — found in a stack of my old middle school writing assignments
These are authentic pieces crafted in my youth, transcribed for your reading pleasure
“Adhesive, Adhesion and Tape”
by Alexi Maczka at age 12,
written February 1st, 1988
Adhesion is the force of attraction between molecules in the surface of one material and another material when they are in contact with each other. Examples of adhesion are: chaulk adhering to a blackboard, water adhering to glass, glue bonding together pieces of any object and solder joining metals together. The adhesion of materials depends on the pressure applied, the cleanliness of the two surfaces, and the temperature. The ingredients in adhesives are synthetic resins, elastomers, protiens, starches, cellulose, dextrin, casein, soybean, blood, and silicates.
The selection of an adhesive depends on many factors. It depends on the nature of the materials to be joined and the condition the finished work must withstand. Water resistance, performance, alkalinity or acidity, clamping time, and cost are some factors to be considered. You should pay careful attention to the best known technique for the materials in question and the application equipment available.
One misunderstanding is the physical basis of adhesion. Adhesives are believed to form chemical, mechanical, and other bonds. In chemical bonding, the adhesives acts on the molecules at the surface of the materials and causes bonding due to intermolecular attraction. In chemical bonding, the adhesive flows into pores of the materials to to be bonded and locks them together mechanically after it solidifies.
Adhesives are a big part of industry today. They are used in dentistry, medicine, metal joining, opticts, electrical applications, and bonding paper. They are also used to bond rubber, wood, and plastic. Approximately two billion pounds of adhesives are being used watch year in almost every part of home and industrial activity. Packaging adhesives help to give us tubes of toothpaste and to keep our cereal fresh. In a television set, adhesives hold electronic components together and insulate them. Adhesives hold bandages in place over a child’s cut. When a space rocket is launched, millions of adhesives are holding it together. Highway departments restore roads with adhesive materials. Adhesives are being used in houses and fences for mortar. Toys used many adhesives. Models rely on the adhesives model glue. You use tape, which has adhesive on it every day.
Tape is backing with a thin coat of adhesive on it. Masking tape has a paper backing, electrician’s tape has a rubber backing, and scotch tape has a cellophane backing. These tapes work better and worse in different environments. Some work better in humid areas rather than dry areas. What about the temperature of the surface? How does that affect the adhesiveness of different kinds of tape? This question is what I asked myself when I did this project.
REFLECTIONS FROM THE AUTHOR:
SOOO …big deal, I liked adhesives as a kid OK?! Really who doesn’t? The question as to why I wrote a paper on such a mundane everyday item may be confusing to some but that is just what I seem to fixate on — the little things.
BTW, I still enjoy using tape on a daily basis and I have a special use for black electrical tape that I’d like to share today: cover the annoying blinking lights and other unnecessary bright lights on your wifi router, cable box and more! Do that and then go binge watch Netflix, you can thank me later.
