The adhesive that allows the omnipresent little notes to be stuck, unstuck, and restuck was discovered nearly 35 years ago. It may seem surprising, then, that the sticky notes weren't readily available throughout the U. Back in , Spencer F. Silver, a chemist working on pressure-sensitive adhesives for 3M, found that when an acrylate copolymer was made in a particular way, it formed a suspension of cross-linked microspheres.
The microspheres didn't dissolve in solution, but instead swelled to twice their original diameter. Silver says that the "pasty mass" of microspheres could simply be sprayed or coated on a surface without clumping. Once sprayed on, the solvent quickly evaporated and the microspheres returned to their original size. Viewed with a scanning electron microscope, the adhesive has a pebbled surface, a bit like the surface of a basketball.
By comparison, the adhesive on a piece of permanent tape looks flat and featureless under the same degree of scrutiny. Although he didn't have any particular product in mind when he made the adhesive, Silver knew that he had something special. It was truly serendipity, he says. Four years later, it was the company's best-selling product. Sticky notes were a long time in the making, involving many people and obstacles.
Ten years passed between the discovery of the adhesive and its application. During the mids, the 3M company was conducting a four-year program dubbed "Polymers for Adhesives. Silver acquired the ADM monomers and performed an experiment in which he mixed an unusually large quantity of the element with the reaction mixture, totally contrary to established scientific principles. Ordinarily, this process, called polymerization catalysis, required mixing very precise ratios of the elements.
By defying scientific rationale, Silver discovered a totally unique phenomenon—a new polymer that was only partly sticky, not "aggressively" adhesive. This polymer would ultimately serve as the "tack" between the sticky note paper and other surfaces, holding them together but allowing easy separation without damaging either surface. Significantly, the polymer was also scientifically reliable, that is, the combination would always lead to the same result.
Silver was fascinated by his discovery and investigated potential applications for it, but to no avail. The first product that Silver conceived was a sticky bulletin board that was covered with the adhesive.
After years of little success with the glue and the end of the "Plymers for Adhesives" program, Silver was transferred in to the System Research Group, where he met biochemist Robert Oliveira. They began investigating an application for this unusual glue. In Arthur Fry, a 3M corporate scientist, stumbled upon the perfect application for Silver's adhesive. One Sunday at his church, his bookmarks kept slipping out of the choir hymnal.
It occurred to him how convenient it would be to have a "permanently temporary" bookmark that would stick to the page, but could be removed without harming it. The sticky notes would have to have several properties: they would have to be moderately sticky on part of the back side, not sticky on the front, and they would have to be stacked into pads. She found that, on documents that had once had sticky notes stuck to them, charcoal dust tended to cling to the areas where the sticky notes had been adhered—no matter how long or brief an amount of time the note had been stuck there.
But hey, if you find them useful for notes to yourself, to-do lists, or any other kind of personal use, go right ahead and Post-it. Just make sure you replace them every now and again! About Us Contact Us Newsletter. The Best Newsletter Anywhere Join , subscribers and get a daily digest of news, articles, and more.
The Proof Is in the PSA The key to what allows for the posting and re -posting of these distinctive pieces of notepaper has to do with the unique characteristics of the adhesive Silver discovered. She also writes and manages The Ghost In My Machine, where she haunts readers several times weekly with spooky stories of the strange and unusual. Post-it Flag Highlighters made their debut and have since received high praise from students.
It's a two-in-one office product that makes it easier to mark pages and take detailed notes. Tablets and cell phones have special apps where you can create digital sticky notes. Even in this tech-centered world, classic office supplies like Post-it Notes never go out of style! The 30th anniversary of Post-it was celebrated in Sweden with limited edition boxes. The box contained sticky note sheets and was decorated in a retro-style that referred to the brand as the "vintage Twitter.
The ones pictured here were designed by Madalyn Fusco, who at the time was a senior at Minneapolis College of Art and Design. Post-it Extreme Notes are designed to withstand tough conditions. They're built from water-resistant materials, making them good for indoor use in the kitchen and outdoor use at places like construction sites. Sticky notes, or Post-it Notes, are made at the 3M factory in St.
Paul, Minnesota. They actually started out with a focus on mining, specifically for a mineral that was used to make sandpaper. It didn't take long for the company to set their sights on new growth opportunities, leading their scientists to experiment with different materials and applications.
By , all this innovation led to the accidental creation of the Post-it Note! You are hard-pressed to avoid using 3M products today. Silver created microspheres completely by accident in Fry then stuck these strong sticky orbs to paper and used it as a bookmark in church. The rest is history! Fry shared the sticky paper with his co-workers, family, friends, and other members of Wednesday night choir practice at North Presbyterian Church in St. Nobody really understood what all the fuss was about.
With some marketing magic from 3M, however, 20 pads of sticky notes were being used per person across the United States by the end of Unfortunately, Spencer Silver passed away in May The best way to honor both his and Arthur Fry's legacy is by writing plenty of memos on your favorite Post-it Notes!
Sticky notes are usually yellow because that's the type of paper that was lying around at the 3M factory when they were first created in Spencer Silver and Arthur Fry used that time to combine the sticky microspheres with the paper they had on hand, which was canary yellow scrap sheets.
The color may not have been chosen on purpose, but it definitely worked out in the long run. You can see that neon yellow a mile away, which makes for a much more effective reminder than a color that blends into the background. The Post-it was invented totally by accident. Spencer Silver was working in the lab one day, and without meaning to, created microspheres — sticky orbs that wouldn't dissolve or melt down. At first, 3M didn't have a plan for the microspheres, but after seeing how much people loved Arthur Fry's sticky paper, soon began to have it created at the factory.
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