Over To You Activity

Over To You Activity Card You’ve come across two news articles: NEWS Lizard Inspires New Super Strength Sticky Tape After observing how the millions of tiny hairs on the bottom of a gecko’s foot helps it to run up and down walls and even upside down on glass, scientists have invented a new super-strength sticky tape that will stick to any surface. “Just one metre square of this new supersticky material could hold a family car or even an elephant to the roof!” explains Dr Sajad Haq. The scientists think this material could be used in lots of situations. For example, a window cleaner might climb up the side of your house instead of using a ladder. They are interested in any other ideas people may have. So go on, use your imagination. PRESS The glue that would not set A chemist named Spencer Silver was in his lab trying out new ideas. He mixed up a new type of glue – but it didn’t work. It did stick a bit but it wasn’t very sticky. It could be easily lifted off any surface and it never set. No-one knew what to do with it. It was useless! Then along came Arthur Fry, chemist and choir director. He took Silver’s new glue and spread it over thin slips of paper to mark the different songs in his hymn book each week. Nice idea, but not much use to anyone else – or is it? What do you think? OVER TO YOU Your challenge Use your scientific imagination to think of how you might put these sticky things to good use.

Discuss Can you think of any interesting, creative or unusual uses for: The super strength sticky tape? The re-usable glue that sticks but never sets? You’ll need access to the internet and/or books to do some research Getting started Plan what you are going to do. Take a big sheet of paper or some cards and write down all the ideas you can think of for using these two sticky things. Write down any idea, however odd it might seem. Now sort your ideas into those that sound like they could be used and those that are creative but not as useful. Choose one or two and see if you can develop your ideas. This is what many scientists do – they turn new scientific ideas into useful things. Show your ideas to other people and see what they think about them. Are there any changes that you could make to improve your ideas? Think of all the sticky inventions that you have used at home and at school. Think of imaginary situations where sticky stuff is used, for example, Spiderman climbing walls. Try to be as creative as possible. OVER TO YOU A few fellow investigators have had some ideas to get you started: I’d put a huge line of super-strong sticky stuff at the end of airport runways to stop planes overrunning. I’m going to put super-strong glue on my ceiling before going to sleep. During the night, all the lovely dreams that leave my head will decorate the ceiling. I’m going to put re-usable glue on the top of my nose to keep my glasses in place. Super-strong glue would be handy for police officers making an arrest. Instead of using handcuffs, they put glue on the person’s feet and tell them to stay put while the officer does the paperwork. I’m going to put re-usable glue on the classroom walls. Then all my ideas will stick to the walls. I can peel them off when I need to use them – no more writing! Which of these are pure fantasy and which might really work? Share your ideas You could create a poster to advertise your ideas and persuade people to buy your inventions.