Everyday physics - polymers - Part 2

 For polymers, we have spaghetti or risotto.

For most of our old lives, we have been living with very short monomers.  Now, we are into the long stuff for paints and glues.

The adhesion to a surface depends on the active end points, and the long polymers don't have many, but it is 10 times stronger.

After many failures, I have settled on a new method.  When the old paint is peeled off, I have bare wood.  In many places on the cottage deck, I have replaced boards with fresh cedar.  Nothing sticks to that.  So, I buy my Behr Deckover and mix a watered solution.  Then I pour a hunk of Weldbond, which is long-polymer glue.

I put on several coats of this mixture.  It sucks right into the wood.  All the strings are buried in the wood, with end points sticking out.  Then I finally put on a medium mix (with a dash of glue), and I have no adhesion problems.  I always mix this stuff with water a bit, because it is as thick as tar.  You can see the fuzzy ends of the polymers when you pour the paint.

I'm using this paint for all the stain now, since it is much cheaper.  Just mix to your taste.  The regular stain has short fibers (monomers), and lasts a long time on vertical surfaces.  

End.