I have a lot of experience working with gauge blocks in a calibration lab. We had different sets of block gauge of different "class". The class defines how perfect the gauge is, and the perfection is measured in terms of the tolerance regarding it's nominal length, but also in the flatness and roughness of the faces. The best gauges has a parallelism + flatness error combined of 0.05 microns, that is 50 nanometers. That's insane. While that is still a few orders of magnitude bigger than the Fe atom, I suppose it has to allow for millions of atom pairs between the 2 blocks to be in very close proximity. What I found is that, when clean of oil, the better blocks have better better adhesion (and sometimes much better, to the point of really struggling to take them apart, the only way was to use another block to push one of them out by sliding sideways). How much of that is because of just better vacuum and how much is because of more atom pairs being in closer contact, I don't know.
@@CraftAero ... Put the blocks at 90 degrees (like a cross) and rotate. If one or both blocks are thin (risk of bending), put them on a thicker block first.
wouldn't the square cube law apply here? assuming the object material is the same, it would have same density, so more volume= more mass. with less surface area:volume ratio, the weight of the object (f=mg) > than the bond between those 2 objects (via wringing), so they wouldnt stick together
These are the types of science projects that I love the most! Simple, yet interesting concepts that are experimented with scientific method, giving us a chance to learn and have fun in the same time.
and there in may lie the answer to many of the questions unanswered. I've always believed we teach too complex - like field theory against electron flow?
Polystyrene/styrofoam are mainly affected by static electricity in vacuum due to their light weight/low mass not being affected by gravity much compared to their electrostatic potential afaik.
I use polystyrene blocks to displace air when I’m evacuating epoxy, makes it much quicker. It’s not an incredible vacuum but the polystyrene is completely unaffected, visually anyway.
@@minamagdy4126 When he said air pressure he meant you are making a vacuum between the metals. This means there is no outward pressure between the metal pieces, and the atmospheric pressure on the opposing face of the blocks pushes them inwards towards each other. The Casimir effect is a completely unrelated thing to air pressure, and would work in a vacuum.
@@alansmithee419 thanks for the reminder that the Cassimir effect is more or less the quantum mechanics version of the air-pressure effect, I did misremember
The most important factor with the holding force is the quality of the contact surface finish. My practical experience: better finished blocks hold sufficient well without oil, less good finshed need oil! And this does not mean that the less good finished blocks are out of specs!!!
The problem with wringing with no oil is if you leave them for long periods, they will fuse together. For example, overnight. Good luck with breaking them free.
@@Jiggledance I was not aware of that fact! I never left them long time together. And we name the oil a protection oil that we apply after use of the blocks, not a "fusion" oil.
I just started a machinery course and we were shown gauge block wringing and I was intrigued. I assumed number 3 was the reason for the bond since the teacher said these ones were in bad shape and needed to be cleaned and polished as there were some near permanent fingerprints on them. Number 3 makes the most sense to me because we know that in a true vacuum with absolutely zero oxygen like metals can contact weld. So this wringing effect as I am making sense of it in my head is like a super small scale velcro between the molecules of the blocks.
I love this. I asked this same question like 11 years ago when I was in vo-tech for tool and die and I couldn't get a decent enough answer. I still wondered because it was so odd to me. Not only there was an ideas of how, there was visual representations of them.
My brother worked for an optics company and he had two pieces of glass which were so smooth they were PERMENANTLY bonded by "wringing" them together in a bucket of soapy water.
Multi camera and telescope lenses are assembled exactly the same way. No adhesive, just perfect glass to glass contact. They will never separate without damaging both lenses.
I absolutely love your videos. They serve not just as entertaining and educational for me, but my daughter as well. Every one of your experiments that I can afford to do, and is safe, I do with my daughter... I even do some of the less safe ones, with her observing from a point of safety behind a shield. I love how it makes her ask questions, some of which I had never thought of and didn't know the answers to. From an 8-year-old girl and her dad... thank you. You are the Bill Nye of this generation.
We tried to stick them together at work. When clean we couldn't get them to stick, but just touching the edges put enough oil on them to make them stick. So, we thought that it was just the oil doing it. The question is, when you cleaned them, were they really perfectly clean, or did they still have some minute amount of oil on them?
@@Astromath Some people use a certain type of oil to prevent corrosion while being stored. They can also get oil from your fingers just from touching them.
Nice experiment , you can measure the contact resistance between them with a milliohmetre if the tow metal touches each other, and if they are separated by a thin oil film they will act as a capacitor.
Thank you. You just resolved an argument that me an my husband had on this subject a few years ago. He thought it was air pressure only and I said, "if it still works in a vacuum, then you are wrong." He is wrong. I should have bet him 100 bucks. LOL
Thanks for this! I oftentimes used kerosene and meticulous cleaning to wring them together but they never STUCK so strongly as shown here. Seems the company I worked at had little actual skill about this important aspect of the work we did!
Only problem i have, is the use of the word vacuum @1:40...it cant both be a vacuum AND be molecular bonding. A vacuum could be created once you start adding empty space...that doesn't mean outside air pressure isn't helping. Imagine a pushed in syringe with the tip blocked. There is no vacuum between there and the plunger (assuming the tip was blocked and meets perfectly with that plunger...small air/vacuum gap between on a real one) the vacuum is created when you pull the plunger out. Same thing with the blocks. It isnt a vacuum if the space is filled with atoms (unless you count the space between atoms inside a single block as a vacuum)
I've seen stainless steel cold weld to itself. It's something I have to watch out for in my industry. Stainless isn't always the best option and sometimes a bit of oil makes all the difference.
I worked at a double disc grinding shop and we basically specialized in making parts flat. I would be done with some small rectangles or even really precise parallels i would be able to slap em together and they would stick to each other. Also did steel plates and when placed on a precision granite it would be impossible to lift it off the granite. Compressed air would be needed to walk the parts off the granite table.
I think it's oil viscosity. Any minute traces of oil will create a layer in between. If you want to move them apart, the layer needs to get thicker first, so oil from the edges must flow to the middle. But since the layer is so incredibly thin and the oil viscous, it requires a lot of force to flow. I think they are basically glued together with oil.
First of all what is surface tension at the atomic level and second of all ask yourself if the permittivity of the oil will enhance the electric field potentials
Nice experiment. But I suggest tou to try cleaning the oil with some strong solvent, like acetone, and manipulate the blocks with gloves. You probably see a much stronger effect from the solid-solid adhesive forces.
Cleaning them with a paper towel is kinda a wimpy method. You could ultrasonic clean them with a degreaser. Metal is porous and can hold oil. You could also try heating the residual oil off after the wipe down. Or try is with ceramic block.
Hilarious i asked this question on Quora just like a couple months ago. Was wringing to do with air pressure or something else and no answer really was at all sure. This is such great timing. Very very cool to see...
What about the Casimir effect? This might explain some of the attraction. At 10 nm of separation, conductive surfaces will exert about 14 psi or 100 kPa or 1 atmosphere of pressure against each other. I think the video said there was more space between the blocks than that, due to the oil, but there'd be some Casimir force.
@@THESLlCK An inward pressure of around 14 PSI. This pressure exists even if the plates are in a vacuum. It's a pressure in the sense that it is a force that is proportional to the perpendicular area.
very good explanation, thank you for covering almost every topic i find interesting and what im curious about, you're literally the guy who covers almost every interesting "science" thing, thats funny because when i search about "science" thing i always encounter your channel XD, anyways thank you! (again)
@@douglasharley2440 That is a fair point. I wonder if the 25nm is to permit space for the oxide to form. It may be that the oil minimises the thickness of the oxide and prevents the block becoming unusable whilst also preventing them from welding together.
I believe wiping with paper towel doesn't remove oil, it just thins the layer. In this case we are dealing with microscopic phenomena so even the thinned layer of oil can be sufficient to have an effect. To remove oil you need to use a solvent (e. g. acetone or paint thinner), a surfactant (dish soap) or alkali. Removing oil is a demanding process which is done before painting parts.
When working with optical flats the adhesion can be so severe it will damage the surface if you try to slide them. You must never "wring" two precision optical flats or you risk permanently damaging them.
Well done. Deep research on the subject, good experiments to back it up and good conclusion. I wonder why there aren't vacuum and the right temperature.
If youtube and this guy would have existed back in 2005 I would’ve been a great scientist for sure. But I still watch every video and it fascinates com enlightens me every single time.
The air pressure effect shouldn't change much I suspect, but oil tension and electron forces would both change noticably. Oil tension would weaken outside an optimal bound, too hot or too cold methinks. Electron forces may increase as temperature increases toward the melting point of the metal. Not a chemist or material engineer so that's just my supposition.
It actually does - and it may be significant at the precision levels of measurement those blocks are often used for. I read that, to get maximum accurancy, they should be allowed to cool for some time after just handling them (because just the heat from the hands is enough to make them expand out of their specified tolerances). Most are probably specified and calibrated at a temperature of 25°C (77°F), since that seem to be the "standard room temperature" in a lot of applications - for example in chemistry and it's also the "standard temperature" electronic components, many measurement devices etc. are specified at. It could be a cool demonstration if he for example took a block and submerge in liquid nitrogen, see how much it shrinks, haha - or heat it up to like 200°C (higher temperature is also possible, but may ruin it by oxidation).
@@Speeder84XL First, thanks for discussing like that. I totally agree your idea! If he could just as you has said, how cool! Anyway, his coming experiments might answer some of our questions.
@@ephemeralvapor8064 Yes, we don't need to think air pressure. Cause he showed it works a little bit even in vacuum. But I think we should check out some elements in the air that might react with gauge material when it was overheated. I'm into your thinking. I'm not a chemist or material engineer, too. Just a learner. Anyway, cheers, Mate!
Van Der Waals force for the win. People can’t quite believe it is a real thing. Lots of students come through and still can’t get the concept of it. See what happens in vacuum when you scrape the oxidized layer off of that material. Cold welding is a real thing!
I think you need to heat up the blocks to make sure there is no microscopic residual water on the blocks that might help it in wringing too. It would be hard to do because I’m certain unless you were in an environment completely void of moisture, I’d imagine the humidity in the air deposits on the metal right away after heating it to dryness. There may even be a galvanic reaction between the metals (even though they are the same metal) accelerated by the moisture, which might be another reason the wringing is possible. Just a few other ideas I figured I’d throw your way even though I have no proof otherwise. Just something to consider that I haven’t ever heard anyone mention. Edit: Spelling correction.
I was about to ask you to do a Cold Welding experiment, which is similar, but not the same effect. After doing a quick search I found you already did that. :-) Way to go! Keep it up!
The force between atoms is actually very strong. In fact, if the both sides were smooth on an atomic level, and there were no oxide/oil layer between the 2 sides...the blocks would weld together permanently. You can imagine having a single block of metal, with an imaginary line through the middle of it and pretend that it was 2 pieces of metal touching each other at the imaginary line. The strength at which the sides pull together is as strong as the metal is in the block.
Thanx...TIL wringing...Before opening this AL notification, I thought perhaps "Wringing" meant "Ringing", as when the sound waves distributes thru the srrounding medium (air or lack therof) when two or more hard metals are impacted by each other.
You could tether the bottom block to the chamber and then use a force gauge attached to the other to measure the strength of the attraction in each case as you pull them apart and get some quantitative data.
You previously did a video on cold welding in a vacuum, could you discuss the possibilities with these, if it’s even possible because they are too smooth?
I think it would be interesting to repeat the test with ceramic gauge blocks, they're usually a much higher quality than your "standard" accuracy gauge block (which says a lot, steel GBs are insanely accurate already) and it kind of eliminates the molecular attraction/cold welding theory of steel since ceramic can't cold weld. They're pretty expensive so I wouldn't recommend getting a set but you could buy two single blocks for a much lower price.
about the electrons holding on to each other... there is a thing you can try its called a cold weld.... happend in our toolshop once when a guy left the blocks stuck and put them away next time we used them they where stuck so we couldnt get them appart without breaking them...😉😉😉😉😉
You can get quartz discs which are even more flat than steel. Do they have this attraction? In other words are they held together in the atmosphere like guage blocks. If so, what about in a vacuum. I would suggest similar experiments with quartz discs and see if they attract each other. If they do try quartz and a stainless gauge block. The two certainly have different spacings of the atoms on the surface, silicon dioxide versus nickel/iron. I believe I have played with some quartz slides that they seem to be sticky. Shipped with tissue paper between each slide.
If you had two perfectly clean and flat gauge blocks, you could actually permanently stick them together under vacum by a process called 'cold welding'. This way, you would essentially combine them into one seamless block of metal.
I thought it could partially be caused by imperfections in the surface interlocking, but you didn’t mention that at all so I assume it isn’t a contributing factor
I think the surfaces are too smooth for that, however there is probably some surface distortion on a large scale which may trap energy. I'd be interested to see experiments with gauge blocks at -100'C and 200'C to see if the strength of bond changes.
Could it be to some degree the same process metals are fused together in space with no air for a lubricant ? But would it be flat enough to push enough air out to fuse?
Iirc a good rule of thumb is the distance between two guage block sides "wrung together" is one millionth of an inch. That's like 25.4 nanometers. Atoms vary in " size" from ~0.27nm-0.037nm so it would seem like a few atom could fit in between them. It might be a tight fit for some molecules in the air. So I'd guess the vacuum won't affect them. I remember once two flat surfaces get a certain distance or less most em radiation can't fit thru the crack. That creates an imbalance between the area outside the small area between. That seems almost like an em version of a vacuum. I forget what the effect is named. I think that would be what holds them together and maybe the two sides being worked till they both fit each as if each side had a bunch of tiny pins which slide between the bunches if tiny pins on the other side thus having twice the number if tiny pins in the same area which puts horizontal pressure on all the pins making them "stick."
I really appreciate that this video shows that sometimes (maybe even oftentimes) there are multiples causes to an effect. Too often I hear people talking about a single cause, implying that causal relationships are easy to figure out. But the trouble is that there can be two or more elements which when combined bring out the specific effect. Which makes it quite difficult to figure out what is happening. I first learned of this concept when doing some research on Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, for which I received a diagnosis in 1993, some two years after I first got sick. One reason CFS is hard to diagnose is because there is no test for it. And that's due to there not being a single cause for the illness. It is known to have a viral cause, such as Epstein-Barr because the illness behaves like a retro-virus with symptoms fluctuating. But that's not the whole picture. Some people get sick but don't have the Epstein-Barr virus. Instead, they may have an influenza virus instead. In the early 90's it was often called the Yuppie Flu, because for many it started out as a flu. Others, like me, started out with Mononucleosis. So researchers realized there had to be other factors involved. Anyway, this is how I became acquainted with the notion that things might have many causes to them. While dominoes and Rube Goldberg machines can illustrate how a series of events can be related through cause and effect, they don't often show how a confluence of factors may be necessary for an event to occur. Weather patterns are a better example of how there needs to be two or more elements at the same time for a particular event to happen. Hurricanes and tornadoes need several confitions to be present in order for their formation. I think, too often, people look for one thing to be the cause of whatever problem they are facing. Either because they are looking for a simple solution or they lack the imagination to accept the complexities of reality. From America's war on drugs, Nancy Reagan's "Just say no" campaign, to the Prohibition Era, these are all examples of failed attempts to solve social ills because of a lack of understanding of just how complex these problems really are. So if your channel can not only educate people on science matters but also show them how to open their minds to broader ways of looking at a problem and possibly having a better understanding of what's needed to find possible solutions, I would say "Well done. Keep up the good work."
Ever heard of cold welding in space? Have one for you, create a vacuum and leave the blocks together, the last effect you mentioned will actually WELD those together (remove the oil first though)
But I heard about another cause of wringing from another channel, that being mechanical. The imperfections on each surface lock together, which is why often to wring the guage blocks it helps, or is even necessary, to slide them together. On the atomic scale they're not flat and the surfaces kind of mesh when friction is applied. Thoughts?
If you push them hard enough together, in a vacuum, with no oil, and super clean surfaces, would they actually weld together, as in creating atomic bonds, and therefore become one piece?
@@timelsen2236 not talking about that then? Cold welding, the phenomenon as seen during space missions on occasion. The idea that the crystal lattice structure of metals, can allow separate pieces to "fuse" together, if the outside layers are not oxidized, thus have free flowing electrons, which I believe is a property of most metals? I'm not an expert, I'm just a nerd.
So does that mean that breaking something solid in air in normal atmosphere is more difficult than in vaccum ? I mean before the object was broken there was no air b/w them too right ?
so atomic forces can act at a distance over 25 nanometers? also how did you reapply the oil? u have a way of putting on 25 nanometers of the same exact type of oil?
The biggest problem with this gauge blocks, is when you stick them together and let them stick for a while, the atoms will bind fix to the other block and you can't pull them apart. Idk how it's called but in germany its free translated "cold welding". So they build one single block by time.
I have a lot of experience working with gauge blocks in a calibration lab. We had different sets of block gauge of different "class". The class defines how perfect the gauge is, and the perfection is measured in terms of the tolerance regarding it's nominal length, but also in the flatness and roughness of the faces. The best gauges has a parallelism + flatness error combined of 0.05 microns, that is 50 nanometers. That's insane. While that is still a few orders of magnitude bigger than the Fe atom, I suppose it has to allow for millions of atom pairs between the 2 blocks to be in very close proximity. What I found is that, when clean of oil, the better blocks have better better adhesion (and sometimes much better, to the point of really struggling to take them apart, the only way was to use another block to push one of them out by sliding sideways). How much of that is because of just better vacuum and how much is because of more atom pairs being in closer contact, I don't know.
Ok
We never, EVER use oil on Joe blocks.
Acetone, a clean sheet of printer paper and proper wringing technique (not shown) works wonders.
@@sportsball_lover69 piss
Thank you
@@CraftAero ... Put the blocks at 90 degrees (like a cross) and rotate. If one or both blocks are thin (risk of bending), put them on a thicker block first.
I just learned about "Gauge Block Wringing" 5 minutes before finding this video, and I must say that I'm completely fascinated by this phenomena.
Metal can sometimes instantly weld in space, if you find this video interesting, the same phenomenon has been observed in space
Same
Steve mould?
I would love to see this scaled up to mult-Kg sized items. Would be interesting to push it. Cool viddy.
Why No Videos!!?.😭😭.
Good idea
wouldn't the square cube law apply here? assuming the object material is the same, it would have same density, so more volume= more mass. with less surface area:volume ratio, the weight of the object (f=mg) > than the bond between those 2 objects (via wringing), so they wouldnt stick together
Machine blocks on a the bed way can do this we have to use a 50Tonne Gantry crane to get them apart.
@Deborah Ajao and electric sea metallic bonding too.
I was always amazed how gauge blocks stick so well. Thank you action lab for answering our silly doubts. 😅.
These are the types of science projects that I love the most! Simple, yet interesting concepts that are experimented with scientific method, giving us a chance to learn and have fun in the same time.
and there in may lie the answer to many of the questions unanswered. I've always believed we teach too complex - like field theory against electron flow?
Could you redo the experiment and attach a gauge + spring resistance to measure the force contribution of each factor? Thanks
Great idea! I thought about that a bit too. A bit tricky in the vacuum but he can probably try to macguyver a solution!
I was about to say that ^^
It's also hard to wring in a vacuum. The correct way is to push and twist them together.
As i was throwing away some packaging the other day i was wondering what polystyrene looks like in a vacuum chamber.
Polystyrene/styrofoam are mainly affected by static electricity in vacuum due to their light weight/low mass not being affected by gravity much compared to their electrostatic potential afaik.
I use polystyrene blocks to displace air when I’m evacuating epoxy, makes it much quicker. It’s not an incredible vacuum but the polystyrene is completely unaffected, visually anyway.
it looks exactly the same. im guessing you mean polystyrene foam?
Yes, all 4 forces : air pressure, oil surface tension, atomic forces ( = coulomb- and, van der Waals forces) and..... the Cassimir Effect.
I was wondering why he never mentioned the Cassimir Effect. It has just as big a role, if not bigger, than the atomic force.
I assume it's what he meant (likely by accident) by air pressure, unless I understand the effect wrong
@@minamagdy4126 When he said air pressure he meant you are making a vacuum between the metals. This means there is no outward pressure between the metal pieces, and the atmospheric pressure on the opposing face of the blocks pushes them inwards towards each other.
The Casimir effect is a completely unrelated thing to air pressure, and would work in a vacuum.
@@alansmithee419 thanks for the reminder that the Cassimir effect is more or less the quantum mechanics version of the air-pressure effect, I did misremember
56 years old, and this is the first I am hearing of this! The world is just incredible.
someone: actually ask me whether its air pressure, surface tension or the atomic forces keeping gauge blocks together
me: yes
Yes
Option d, of of the above
Well there’s no air in between them so I’d say it’s a vacuum
Why not both
Yes
Those blocks just remind me about my old erasers meltdown under hot weather and sticking to everything around it
The most important factor with the holding force is the quality of the contact surface finish. My practical experience: better finished blocks hold sufficient well without oil, less good finshed need oil! And this does not mean that the less good finished blocks are out of specs!!!
The problem with wringing with no oil is if you leave them for long periods, they will fuse together. For example, overnight. Good luck with breaking them free.
@@Jiggledance I was not aware of that fact! I never left them long time together. And we name the oil a protection oil that we apply after use of the blocks, not a "fusion" oil.
"Comment reserved for when I think about something funny to say"
Ok I’ll just edit this comment when you unreserve it
Lemme give you a suggestion keep it like this you’ll get a lot of likes
@@imakeeditsiwillbeatevil9346 Okay, let's make the experiment
@@YourPhysicsSimulator ;)
Eight
I just started a machinery course and we were shown gauge block wringing and I was intrigued. I assumed number 3 was the reason for the bond since the teacher said these ones were in bad shape and needed to be cleaned and polished as there were some near permanent fingerprints on them. Number 3 makes the most sense to me because we know that in a true vacuum with absolutely zero oxygen like metals can contact weld. So this wringing effect as I am making sense of it in my head is like a super small scale velcro between the molecules of the blocks.
Dang
Non magnetic pieces of metal sticking to each other with a lot of force
This is genuinely really interesting
Ye ikr lol
Communism has failed every time it was attempted, I don't care that this is irrelevant
I didn't understand.. how did they stick?
@@chandrahasreddy1729 re-watch the video.
@@pumpkin8222 true.
I love how there's so many things that just keep two smooth pieces of metal together.
So is it, air pressure, surface tention of oil or atimoc forces?
TheActionLab: yes
The answer is air pressure
@@THESLlCK *yes*
"Atimoc"?
@@TheTheninjagummybear *yes*
There's some quantum weirdness happening there.
I love this. I asked this same question like 11 years ago when I was in vo-tech for tool and die and I couldn't get a decent enough answer. I still wondered because it was so odd to me. Not only there was an ideas of how, there was visual representations of them.
My brother worked for an optics company and he had two pieces of glass which were so smooth they were PERMENANTLY bonded by "wringing" them together in a bucket of soapy water.
Multi camera and telescope lenses are assembled exactly the same way. No adhesive, just perfect glass to glass contact. They will never separate without damaging both lenses.
I absolutely love your videos. They serve not just as entertaining and educational for me, but my daughter as well. Every one of your experiments that I can afford to do, and is safe, I do with my daughter... I even do some of the less safe ones, with her observing from a point of safety behind a shield.
I love how it makes her ask questions, some of which I had never thought of and didn't know the answers to. From an 8-year-old girl and her dad... thank you. You are the Bill Nye of this generation.
We tried to stick them together at work. When clean we couldn't get them to stick, but just touching the edges put enough oil on them to make them stick. So, we thought that it was just the oil doing it. The question is, when you cleaned them, were they really perfectly clean, or did they still have some minute amount of oil on them?
When they are worn out quite a bit then they don't stick together as easy as when they are new. Thats probably why thex din't stuck together
Why is there even oil on them?
@@Astromath Some people use a certain type of oil to prevent corrosion while being stored. They can also get oil from your fingers just from touching them.
@@mincraftler444 Could be. Not sure how old the ones are at work, or how well they have been handled.
Nice experiment , you can measure the contact resistance between them with a milliohmetre if the tow metal touches each other, and if they are separated by a thin oil film they will act as a capacitor.
Yes, I wondered if the oil improves the bond between the surfaces like a dielectric or 'magnetic core'
I think they will touch in 3 microscopic spots and be held by oil everywhere else.
@@charlieangkor8649
Hence, *milliohm* meter which should give you an idea of the actual contact area.
He is not like other experimenters who just break and blow things. I love his videos based on very unique concept ❤️
3:06 a whole new level of controlling things in a vacuum chamber and we can use this to do magic tricks. 😆🤣 lol
Thank you. You just resolved an argument that me an my husband had on this subject a few years ago. He thought it was air pressure only and I said, "if it still works in a vacuum, then you are wrong." He is wrong. I should have bet him 100 bucks. LOL
Thanks for this! I oftentimes used kerosene and meticulous cleaning to wring them together but they never STUCK so strongly as shown here. Seems the company I worked at had little actual skill about this important aspect of the work we did!
It sounds like you were cleaning the oil off which is the strongest reason they stick together
Action lab and vacuum chamber goes hand in hand!
Maybe it should be called "Action Vacuum" or "Action Chamber". Personally I think "Vac Action Lab 4090" would sound cool.
The wringing definitely works best with new and clean gauge blocks. When they are old and all scratched up, they won't wring anymore.
Kind of tells you something, doesn't it?
Never heard of gauge blocks before. I learned something. Lol
Only problem i have, is the use of the word vacuum @1:40...it cant both be a vacuum AND be molecular bonding. A vacuum could be created once you start adding empty space...that doesn't mean outside air pressure isn't helping.
Imagine a pushed in syringe with the tip blocked. There is no vacuum between there and the plunger (assuming the tip was blocked and meets perfectly with that plunger...small air/vacuum gap between on a real one) the vacuum is created when you pull the plunger out. Same thing with the blocks. It isnt a vacuum if the space is filled with atoms (unless you count the space between atoms inside a single block as a vacuum)
it'd be awesome to have this guy as a physics professor
I love how this channel has no annoying ads in between the videos.
Amazing work young man. I enjoyed your presentation as well as explanation in a manner that is easy to understand.
7:14
Q- "what keeps those gauge blocks together? Air pressure, surface-tension, or atomic force between the atoms"
A- *YES*
Does it also work if the two blocks are made from a different metal ?
Yes it does. I’m this video he sticks a ceramic block to a metal block ua-cam.com/video/_YVWdxr0E_g/v-deo.html
@@TheActionLab Communism has failed every time it was attempted, I don't care that this is irrelevant
@@TheActionLab thanks
@@TheActionLab thanks
Great experiment! Cold welding uses the formation of molecular bonds between metal surfaces in a vacuum.
I've seen stainless steel cold weld to itself. It's something I have to watch out for in my industry. Stainless isn't always the best option and sometimes a bit of oil makes all the difference.
I worked at a double disc grinding shop and we basically specialized in making parts flat. I would be done with some small rectangles or even really precise parallels i would be able to slap em together and they would stick to each other. Also did steel plates and when placed on a precision granite it would be impossible to lift it off the granite. Compressed air would be needed to walk the parts off the granite table.
Thank you! You just proved my point perfectly!! 😀
@@imnewtothistuff what point?
@@amanciobarragan My original, earlier comment.
3:04 experiment Could be done wrong: Gouge blocks could be magnetized because of the 2 neodymium magnets moving around.
I think it's oil viscosity. Any minute traces of oil will create a layer in between. If you want to move them apart, the layer needs to get thicker first, so oil from the edges must flow to the middle. But since the layer is so incredibly thin and the oil viscous, it requires a lot of force to flow. I think they are basically glued together with oil.
First of all what is surface tension at the atomic level and second of all ask yourself if the permittivity of the oil will enhance the electric field potentials
Sixty Symbols has a vid on this but you demonstrated things in a new way and covered things they didn't. Great vid.
Nice experiment. But I suggest tou to try cleaning the oil with some strong solvent, like acetone, and manipulate the blocks with gloves. You probably see a much stronger effect from the solid-solid adhesive forces.
Cleaning them with a paper towel is kinda a wimpy method. You could ultrasonic clean them with a degreaser. Metal is porous and can hold oil. You could also try heating the residual oil off after the wipe down. Or try is with ceramic block.
It would be interesting to measure how much force is needed to separate them in each condition, to see if oil is stronger, or air, or bonds.
Hilarious i asked this question on Quora just like a couple months ago. Was wringing to do with air pressure or something else and no answer really was at all sure. This is such great timing.
Very very cool to see...
What about the Casimir effect? This might explain some of the attraction. At 10 nm of separation, conductive surfaces will exert about 14 psi or 100 kPa or 1 atmosphere of pressure against each other. I think the video said there was more space between the blocks than that, due to the oil, but there'd be some Casimir force.
Interesting
So a vacuum
@@THESLlCK An inward pressure of around 14 PSI. This pressure exists even if the plates are in a vacuum. It's a pressure in the sense that it is a force that is proportional to the perpendicular area.
Lmao some parts of this audio sounds a little dirty if you aren’t watching the video and only start listening at certain times.
@ 0:29 this is in relation to their conjugate of magnetic permeability.
very good explanation, thank you for covering almost every topic i find interesting and what im curious about, you're literally the guy who covers almost every interesting "science" thing, thats funny because when i search about "science" thing i always encounter your channel XD, anyways thank you! (again)
I thought they would be welded to each other in the vacuum
If they were rubbed to generate heat enough they would weld. Friction welding as done for rockets.
if the surfaces were freshly-machined, and subjected to pressure, they would indeed cold-weld.
@@timelsen2236 They are talking about cold welding not friction welding.
@@douglasharley2440 That is a fair point. I wonder if the 25nm is to permit space for the oxide to form. It may be that the oil minimises the thickness of the oxide and prevents the block becoming unusable whilst also preventing them from welding together.
That's what I was wondering. If they were cold welding in the vacuum part.
Does wiping with tissue really remove enough of the oil for the test to be conclusive?
I believe wiping with paper towel doesn't remove oil, it just thins the layer. In this case we are dealing with microscopic phenomena so even the thinned layer of oil can be sufficient to have an effect. To remove oil you need to use a solvent (e. g. acetone or paint thinner), a surfactant (dish soap) or alkali. Removing oil is a demanding process which is done before painting parts.
This is a very nice and tempting channel for science geeks(as well as non-science coz they do develop interest) . I love the videos👍🏻
When working with optical flats the adhesion can be so severe it will damage the surface if you try to slide them. You must never "wring" two precision optical flats or you risk permanently damaging them.
True, They stick because no air can get in between them.
Anyone else remembers Veritasium's "Why Metals Spontaneously Fuse Together In Space" video from 2016?
Two, different flat metal peices, like (iron and gold), will have atoms from the other metal when held together like this.
So cool. Atoms are jiggly.
Well done. Deep research on the subject, good experiments to back it up and good conclusion. I wonder why there aren't vacuum and the right temperature.
If youtube and this guy would have existed back in 2005 I would’ve been a great scientist for sure. But I still watch every video and it fascinates com enlightens me every single time.
It is really interesting! if we had gauge blocks heated or freezed, could the result change?
The air pressure effect shouldn't change much I suspect, but oil tension and electron forces would both change noticably.
Oil tension would weaken outside an optimal bound, too hot or too cold methinks.
Electron forces may increase as temperature increases toward the melting point of the metal.
Not a chemist or material engineer so that's just my supposition.
It actually does - and it may be significant at the precision levels of measurement those blocks are often used for. I read that, to get maximum accurancy, they should be allowed to cool for some time after just handling them
(because just the heat from the hands is enough to make them expand out of their specified tolerances).
Most are probably specified and calibrated at a temperature of 25°C (77°F), since that seem to be the "standard room temperature" in a lot of applications - for example in chemistry and it's also the "standard temperature" electronic components, many measurement devices etc. are specified at.
It could be a cool demonstration if he for example took a block and submerge in liquid nitrogen, see how much it shrinks, haha - or heat it up to like 200°C (higher temperature is also possible, but may ruin it by oxidation).
@@Speeder84XL First, thanks for discussing like that. I totally agree your idea! If he could just as you has said, how cool! Anyway, his coming experiments might answer some of our questions.
@@ephemeralvapor8064 Yes, we don't need to think air pressure. Cause he showed it works a little bit even in vacuum. But I think we should check out some elements in the air that might react with gauge material when it was overheated. I'm into your thinking. I'm not a chemist or material engineer, too. Just a learner. Anyway, cheers, Mate!
If you remove the oil while inside the vacuum chamber and polish surfaces to eliminate oxidized metal will the gauge blocks weld together?
Electrostatic Monopoles!
this guy and the other science Chanel’s teach me more than my science teacher
Van Der Waals force for the win. People can’t quite believe it is a real thing. Lots of students come through and still can’t get the concept of it.
See what happens in vacuum when you scrape the oxidized layer off of that material. Cold welding is a real thing!
Thank you for answering this question.
I think you need to heat up the blocks to make sure there is no microscopic residual water on the blocks that might help it in wringing too. It would be hard to do because I’m certain unless you were in an environment completely void of moisture, I’d imagine the humidity in the air deposits on the metal right away after heating it to dryness. There may even be a galvanic reaction between the metals (even though they are the same metal) accelerated by the moisture, which might be another reason the wringing is possible. Just a few other ideas I figured I’d throw your way even though I have no proof otherwise. Just something to consider that I haven’t ever heard anyone mention.
Edit: Spelling correction.
Love the videos, keep 'em coming. Btw, was the box of gloves as expensive as the gauge blocks? Lol. Here in 2021?
I was about to ask you to do a Cold Welding experiment, which is similar, but not the same effect. After doing a quick search I found you already did that. :-) Way to go! Keep it up!
The force between atoms is actually very strong. In fact, if the both sides were smooth on an atomic level, and there were no oxide/oil layer between the 2 sides...the blocks would weld together permanently. You can imagine having a single block of metal, with an imaginary line through the middle of it and pretend that it was 2 pieces of metal touching each other at the imaginary line. The strength at which the sides pull together is as strong as the metal is in the block.
Thanx...TIL wringing...Before opening this AL notification, I thought perhaps "Wringing" meant "Ringing", as when the sound waves distributes thru the srrounding medium (air or lack therof) when two or more hard metals are impacted by each other.
Always wanted to get some gage blocks to try this experiment.
How much do the sides of your vacuum chamber deflect under vacuum ?
Wringing gauge blocks is super satisfying
Cool Experiment!
Just learned about cold welding in a vacuum. Would be a cool experiment to do in the vacuum chamber if it hasn't been done here yet.
You could tether the bottom block to the chamber and then use a force gauge attached to the other to measure the strength of the attraction in each case as you pull them apart and get some quantitative data.
You previously did a video on cold welding in a vacuum, could you discuss the possibilities with these, if it’s even possible because they are too smooth?
I think it would be interesting to repeat the test with ceramic gauge blocks, they're usually a much higher quality than your "standard" accuracy gauge block (which says a lot, steel GBs are insanely accurate already) and it kind of eliminates the molecular attraction/cold welding theory of steel since ceramic can't cold weld. They're pretty expensive so I wouldn't recommend getting a set but you could buy two single blocks for a much lower price.
about the electrons holding on to each other... there is a thing you can try its called a cold weld.... happend in our toolshop once when a guy left the blocks stuck and put them away next time we used them they where stuck so we couldnt get them appart without breaking them...😉😉😉😉😉
You can get quartz discs which are even more flat than steel. Do they have this attraction? In other words are they held together in the atmosphere like guage blocks. If so, what about in a vacuum.
I would suggest similar experiments with quartz discs and see if they attract each other. If they do try quartz and a stainless gauge block. The two certainly have different spacings of the atoms on the surface, silicon dioxide versus nickel/iron.
I believe I have played with some quartz slides that they seem to be sticky. Shipped with tissue paper between each slide.
Love your channels!
If you had two perfectly clean and flat gauge blocks, you could actually permanently stick them together under vacum by a process called 'cold welding'. This way, you would essentially combine them into one seamless block of metal.
I thought it could partially be caused by imperfections in the surface interlocking, but you didn’t mention that at all so I assume it isn’t a contributing factor
That was a thought I had too
I think the surfaces are too smooth for that, however there is probably some surface distortion on a large scale which may trap energy. I'd be interested to see experiments with gauge blocks at -100'C and 200'C to see if the strength of bond changes.
Could it be to some degree the same process metals are fused together in space with no air for a lubricant ? But would it be flat enough to push enough air out to fuse?
Iirc a good rule of thumb is the distance between two guage block sides "wrung together" is one millionth of an inch. That's like 25.4 nanometers. Atoms vary in " size" from ~0.27nm-0.037nm so it would seem like a few atom could fit in between them. It might be a tight fit for some molecules in the air. So I'd guess the vacuum won't affect them. I remember once two flat surfaces get a certain distance or less most em radiation can't fit thru the crack. That creates an imbalance between the area outside the small area between. That seems almost like an em version of a vacuum. I forget what the effect is named. I think that would be what holds them together and maybe the two sides being worked till they both fit each as if each side had a bunch of tiny pins which slide between the bunches if tiny pins on the other side thus having twice the number if tiny pins in the same area which puts horizontal pressure on all the pins making them "stick."
how do you get all the interesting experiment ideas? it is like daily dose of internet but with science and every video is selfmade.
Always turning up something interesting AF
5:11 are u stuck step gauge block
I really appreciate that this video shows that sometimes (maybe even oftentimes) there are multiples causes to an effect. Too often I hear people talking about a single cause, implying that causal relationships are easy to figure out. But the trouble is that there can be two or more elements which when combined bring out the specific effect. Which makes it quite difficult to figure out what is happening.
I first learned of this concept when doing some research on Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, for which I received a diagnosis in 1993, some two years after I first got sick. One reason CFS is hard to diagnose is because there is no test for it. And that's due to there not being a single cause for the illness. It is known to have a viral cause, such as Epstein-Barr because the illness behaves like a retro-virus with symptoms fluctuating. But that's not the whole picture. Some people get sick but don't have the Epstein-Barr virus. Instead, they may have an influenza virus instead. In the early 90's it was often called the Yuppie Flu, because for many it started out as a flu. Others, like me, started out with Mononucleosis. So researchers realized there had to be other factors involved.
Anyway, this is how I became acquainted with the notion that things might have many causes to them. While dominoes and Rube Goldberg machines can illustrate how a series of events can be related through cause and effect, they don't often show how a confluence of factors may be necessary for an event to occur. Weather patterns are a better example of how there needs to be two or more elements at the same time for a particular event to happen. Hurricanes and tornadoes need several confitions to be present in order for their formation.
I think, too often, people look for one thing to be the cause of whatever problem they are facing. Either because they are looking for a simple solution or they lack the imagination to accept the complexities of reality. From America's war on drugs, Nancy Reagan's "Just say no" campaign, to the Prohibition Era, these are all examples of failed attempts to solve social ills because of a lack of understanding of just how complex these problems really are.
So if your channel can not only educate people on science matters but also show them how to open their minds to broader ways of looking at a problem and possibly having a better understanding of what's needed to find possible solutions, I would say "Well done. Keep up the good work."
Is it possible to water a plant but with musou black paint? Will it be dark like after using a black dye?
Ever heard of cold welding in space? Have one for you, create a vacuum and leave the blocks together, the last effect you mentioned will actually WELD those together (remove the oil first though)
Leave them together for a long period though
But I heard about another cause of wringing from another channel, that being mechanical. The imperfections on each surface lock together, which is why often to wring the guage blocks it helps, or is even necessary, to slide them together. On the atomic scale they're not flat and the surfaces kind of mesh when friction is applied.
Thoughts?
Glad to see you're using Mitus and not some no name brand... Just a machinists opinion
If you push them hard enough together, in a vacuum, with no oil, and super clean surfaces, would they actually weld together, as in creating atomic bonds, and therefore become one piece?
Does the oil coating in some way protect against oxidization of the outside layer, resulting in weak cold welding? 🤔
Friction welding requires heat.
@@timelsen2236 not talking about that then? Cold welding, the phenomenon as seen during space missions on occasion. The idea that the crystal lattice structure of metals, can allow separate pieces to "fuse" together, if the outside layers are not oxidized, thus have free flowing electrons, which I believe is a property of most metals?
I'm not an expert, I'm just a nerd.
So does that mean that breaking something solid in air in normal atmosphere is more difficult than in vaccum ? I mean before the object was broken there was no air b/w them too right ?
Amazing. I’d never heard of this effect.
Fourth reason: Casimir effect ;)
I’m so chuffed ,…..I actually got a third of this right 🥳🥳😊
so atomic forces can act at a distance over 25 nanometers? also how did you reapply the oil? u have a way of putting on 25 nanometers of the same exact type of oil?
The biggest problem with this gauge blocks, is when you stick them together and let them stick for a while, the atoms will bind fix to the other block and you can't pull them apart. Idk how it's called but in germany its free translated "cold welding".
So they build one single block by time.