Why You Should Store Your Bottle Of Super Glue In A Jar Of Rice
Super glue is one of those household essentials that comes in handy when you least expect it. Although it's also a sort of villain of "The Lego Movie," its bonding power is limited by its shelf life and outside elements that cause it to dry out. Though, like a phone dropped in a toilet, a jar of rice can help keep that moisture out to extend the life of your super glue. By the way, the wet phone in rice trick has been proven a myth.
According to the Gateway Division of the National Model Railroad Association, super glue, or its scientific name cyanoacrylate glue has a shelf life of six to twelve months once it's been opened. However, that useability can be affected by the way you store super glue. It shouldn't be stored in a damp place or it will affect your glue, the association added. That moisture effect is demonstrated by the way it reacts to its environment.
"The normal water vapor in the air is sufficient for cyanoacrylate to polymerize," Richard Schumacher of the Gateway NMRA writes. "Since there is even more water on your skin, it can glue your fingers even faster." Knowing that avoiding moisture altogether is all but impossible makes the jar of rice trick an even more pertinent one.
How to protect your glue inside a jar of rice
The least super thing about super glue is how easily it dries out. But have you ever tried storing it in a jar with some rice? This is one of the uncommon household uses for rice, an ever-so-useful staple. Evidently, a sealed jar of rice with super glue inside will help keep the glue solvent longer.
You don't need to fill the jar completely with rice, either. Just enough to cover the bottom will help keep your super glue moisture-free. Once you put some rice in the jar, place your super glue (closed tightly) into the rice and seal the jar. You can also use silica packets in a jar to achieve the same purpose. You know those little bead packets that come in packages sometimes that say "do not eat" on them? They're full of silica, which also zaps moisture out of the air.
If you go the rice jar route, be sure you label it not for consumption. Cooking your super glue rice could bring a whole new meaning to making sticky rice.
Why this trick works
According to the Rice Knowledge Bank, this moisture trick works because rice is hygroscopic, which means that if it's dry, it absorbs water to re-wet itself. Storing your glue this way won't make it useable forever, though it will significantly increase its useability. Though the site also notes that this moisture absorption does cause the rice to deteriorate over time, so you will need to replace the rice in your jar from time to time.
Since rice is so versatile in its moisture-absorbing qualities, there are other useful household uses for it as well. For instance, keeping a bag of rice in your closet will help keep stinky, damp air from invading your clean clothes. The bag of rice will essentially eat up all the odor-causing air. You can also use these little rice bags in other stink specific places too, like inside of shoes to act as shoe deodorizers. Keeping your super glue useable is far from the only thing dry rice can do for you.