Chinese Netizens Faced A Sticky Situation with Their Apple Watch
A netizen in Mainland China recently sought help on social media when he encountered difficulty removing his Apple Watch from the glass of a high-speed train. The awkward situation was replicated by a few curious netizens, who discovered and regretted that their Apple Watches were also affixed to the glass and could not be removed. Some even attempted to forcefully remove the watch from the glass and resulting in damage to the dial of the watch.
It all started when a user shared a video of his Apple Watch stuck to a glass surface, sparking a wave of imitation attempts. Some local media outlets reported that their journalists attempted to replicate the same issue, but were unsuccessful. Many netizens believe that this was merely an online joke.
A few merchants and netizens speculated that the problem may be associated with the plastic film that is affixed to new watches. They claimed that the glass would not display any absorption force in the absence of the plastic film.
Some experts have suggested different theories, such as the 'optical contact bonding' effect, which involves the joining of two closely conformal surfaces through intermolecular forces in a glue-less process.
The process requires both surfaces to be perfectly flat and they must also be exceptionally clean and free of any small contamination, such as grease and particles of dust, which could prevent or affect the bond, In order for bonding to take place, the intermolecular forces draw the bodies into the lowest energy conformation, and no pressure needs to be applied.
Some experts have recommended that the bonding force be weakened by gently rotating the watch or by using a fine wire or hair to drag back and forth between the two surfaces to create a gap.
Apple's official customer service has stated in the report that the Apple Watch does not possess any adsorption function and should not experience any absorption reaction with glass. Customers who encounter this situation were also advised to attempt to extract the watch by gently rotating it.
Netizens amazed by Apple Watch sticking to glass surfaces
Apple clarifies their watches do not have adhesive properties towards glass
Speculation suggests a protective film or the 'optical contact bonding' effect may have caused the issue
Source: Sing Tao Toutiao (星島頭條)