Do you want a way to make your super glue extra super?
This may sound crazy, but add some baking soda.
The Youtube channel Inventor 101 has recently posted a video about the amazing results you can get by adding a little bit of baking soda to your super glue.
According to info.aronalpha.net there is a chemical reaction when you add baking soda to your super glue and it increases the strength over just super glue alone. The bicarbonate molecules in the baking soda react with the cyanoacrylate (the proper name for super glue) and together they create a reactive ion that bonds with the cyanoacrylate.
These bonds create long polymer chains that are stronger than the cyanoacrylate itself.
To prove this, Inventor 101 shows 3 examples of the strength of the bond. He uses a plastic bottle cap, a screw, and the baking soda glue mixture to hold up a 28 pound weight. He also shows how you can use the mixture to fix broken washers, as well as filling a hole that was stripped and no longer fits the nail on the back of a picture frame.
The most impressive of the 3 hacks, the strength test, shows just how secure and strong the mixture is when fully dried.
The video starts by sanding the top of a plastic bottle cap to allow for easier bonding, then adding the super glue and placing a screw on top while it is still liquid. Then, more super glue is added and a small amount of baking soda is poured on to it. Once it hardens, this process is repeated one more time to ensure it is properly bonded.
After waiting the appropriate amount of time for the mixture to fully harden and cure, he puts it to the test.
The bottle cap is secured to a tabletop and out comes the 28 pound weight. The weight has a cord tied onto it which is then hung over the screw and it manages to hold the weight easily. The presenter even gives the weight a little swing to showcase how sturdy it is.
For his second demonstration, Inventor 101 fixes a broken washer.
Some of the grooves of the washer have broken off and need to be replaced, the super glue and baking soda mixture does the trick to get it back to construction worthy standards. The process outlined in the video includes creating a mold using glue gun glue and then fitting the super glue mixture into that. Again, it requires multiple layers of the glue and baking soda and a few hours to properly harden.
The final demonstration tackles an issue that lots of home owners face.
The back of a picture frame, or mirror, that has been constructed with the not-so-great product called OSB (oriented strand board), somehow got damaged. OSB is known to easily chip and break and, like in this example, get stripped by improperly removing a nail. Inventor 101 fills the too-big hole that was leftover with multiple layers of the super glue and baking soda mixture until it is level with the rest of the board. After waiting for it to properly harden, he drills a new hole right into the glue mixture and it problem is now fixed.
Always ensure you are in a well ventilated area while using super glue, and remember to let it harden before moving on to the next step in the process.
Watch the video and a few examples below!
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