h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

A material which creeps into everyone's lives, fixing baby pictures to kitchen cupboard, student posters to dorm walls or project plans to office wipeboards. This tells you what it is, what it does when you set fire to it and how you can use it. Mind you, what it is is a very closely kept secret...

http://www.h2g2.com/A451513

Very interesting.

In the Material Composition section, is the sentence ending '... innocuous or toxic fumes' correct?

JTG

isn't it spelt "blu-tac"? I guess not...

Actually, after double-checking, it should be BLU-TACK. Indeed, it should also have been BOSTIK, so I've made both changes. Also added some more stuff on Recommended Uses and the probable reason why it's coloured blue.

Perhaps Blu-Tack is blue so that it can be called Blu-Tack? Before it was invented, one way to stick a picture on a wall was using a small nail-like thing called a Blued Tack. This was bluey black in colour. Blued Tacks are still available and are sometimes used for holding down carpets.

Thanks very much for that lead.

It is also very useful as a chewing gum substitute, especially if you have a Polo first!

Urrrrgh! While I'm aware that the material isn't toxic if swallowed I may accidentally leave this 'Other Uses' suggestion out of the Entry.

I REALLY worry about the good doctor - why do you ewant chewy when you've got a perfectly good Polo?

Nice entry BTW...

On the other hand, what's the Blue stuff in the spangly spearmint Polos?

Brilliant entry - very comprehensive. You got my key use in there - sculpting things. It's amazing how good it is for that

You might also want to mention the stress-relieving properties of kneading the stuff. If I'm having a hard day at the office rolling a lump around in my hand does no end of good and lets me concentrate on what I should be doing.

--
Caroo

Thanks for the input. Greatly appreciated.

I'd try and do something with the first paragraph - the bit about sterilisation and being blue dosen't explain itself very well - were the tacks blue because they were sterilised? Why? Or were they sterilised because they had been dipped in blue stuff? I think the world needs to know!



- Adam

This is The Guide for Zarquon's Sake, not the Encyclopedia Galactica!

Minor edit has been applied to, hopefully, avert questioning in this area a little until I've had a chance to research it further. I hnoestly stand by the belief that it's precisely the same stuff used in chemical toilets.

Possible reason why it's blue:
In the Spring of 1969 I was a member of a group of student teachers who went to Barcelona on teaching practice. We carried the fore-runner of Blu tak to stick things on walls etc. It was very new and called Plasti-tak. It took a very long time to convince the Spanish customs that we were not carrying plastic explosive.

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Blue Tacks as opposed to Blu Tac
Trying to remember stuff from college upteen years ago.

The tacks you are refering too are heat treated to make them harder (so they don't bend when you bash them into a brick wall or a piece of hardwood)

When you heat steel in the hardening process it changes colour due to the formation of an oxide layer, the colour it goes depends on the tempreture its heated to. but mostly the colour ends up as black / blue.

That is as far as I know the reason the tacks were blue in the first place but I would guess the apprentice is also right and they are dyed nowadays to keep the colour consistant.

Best of luck with the article (it's a good un)

Bald Bloke

Would some Scout put me out of my misery and Recommend this thing!

Blah...

No.