Why Is Gum Chewy? (And 12 Other Everyday Things Explained)

Why do sticky notes come off so easily?

According to Woodford, sticky notes (which were actually invented by accident) come off so easily because their adhesive is uneven. They have a plastic adhesive that is spread out in blobs on the paper. Therefore, when you place a post-it on something, only some of these blobs stick to the surface.

Therefore, you can easily unstick it and attach it to another object, because the unused blobs of glue would still do the job and act like an adhesive. At some point, all the blobs will get used or gather dirt and they won’t stick anymore.

It takes 70 people to heat a house.

The human body is known to emanate heat, as you probably knew already if you’ve ever been trapped in a crowded elevator with several people. Now you probably wonder, how many people it would take to heat a house with body heat in the cold season?

Scientifically speaking, it would take about 70 people in motion, or 14 people still, considering that humans radiate about 100-200 watts of heat under normal circumstances, and the house uses four electric storage heaters.

Why is gum chewy?

Back in the day, the elastic texture of gum was resulting from a natural type of latex rubber called chicle. In this day and age, bubble gum is made with different types of synthetic rubbers such as styrene-butadiene which is also used in car tires, or polyvinyl acetate which is used in Elmer’s glue. These synthetic rubbers are used to imitate the effect of chicle.

Make sure to also check the 7 Completely Accidental World Changing Scientific Discoveries.