What makes wd40

But by the time of the name change, it was long gone. During the Vietnam war, packages containing the spray were being sent to soldiers to keep their finicky M16s cycling.

For years, the top complaint about the product was that people lost the little red straw that came with each can. In , the company introduced the foldable Smart Straw to solve this problem.

Incidentally, the Smart Straw is smarter than you think. I just today read the can and realized that you can still spray it the old-fashioned way if you leave the Smart Straw folded.

My guess is, yes. Some extremely weird uses for the product have been reported over the years. Police once used WD to extricate a naked burglar who had become wedged into ductwork. It was used to help pull a boa constrictor from pipes on the underside of a bus. A pet owner used it to free his parakeet—and himself—from sticky mouse paper. The unusual use most of us are likely aware of is as a fish attractant.

If it stops you, maybe you should switch to DEET, sunscreen, or Johnson Wax, as the users of these products make the same claim. Another myth the company is quick to dispel is that WD cures arthritis. Using a long-handled lighter, WD customers have reported that it makes a dandy mini-flame thrower.

WD is mostly a mix of baby oil, Vaseline, and the goop inside homemade lava lamps. This one, C 10 H 22 , which is also a common ingredient of gasoline, helps WD remain a liquid at cold temperatures. Decane doesn't freeze until around degrees Fahrenheit. Nonane Another alkane. One reason these molecules are so handy here: Their hydrogen atoms don't hold a charge, so they can't connect to the hydrogen or oxygen in water, which makes alkanes water-repellent.

WD, after all, stands for "water displacement, 40th attempt. GC separates chemicals based on size, boiling point, and other factors, releasing them one by one over time. MS then blasts the molecules with an electron beam and tells what's what by the mass of the ionized fragments. Tridecane and Undecane Freeze-resistant? In , a fledgling company called Rocket Chemical Company and its staff of three set out to create a line of rust-prevention solvents and degreasers for use in the aerospace industry, in a small lab in San Diego, California.

It took them 40 attempts to get the water displacing formula worked out. The product made its first appearance on store shelves in San Diego in In , the company nearly doubled in size, growing to seven people, who sold an average of 45 cases per day from the trunk of their cars to hardware and sporting goods stores in the San Diego area. Gulf coast. In , the company was renamed after its only product, WD Company, Inc.

In , WD Company, Inc. Not bad for a company with only one product! Sales had grown to more than one million cans each week. The uses include everything from silencing squeaky hinges and removing road tar from automobiles to protecting tools from rust and removing adhesive labels. But they get a lot crazier than that. Reminiscent of an old-time oilcan, the plastic bottle comes with a five-inch extendable spout designed to get at hard-to-reach places.

This high-performance maintenance product line offers a range of products including wet and dry chain lubricants, a heavy-duty degreaser, a foaming bike wash, and a frame protectant.