You know like the kind that go on a window or bathroom mirror or on the wall or in the shower. They need the atmosphere pushing down on them to work, right?

    • papalonian@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      This only works on “virgin” metal iirc - if it’s been exposed to Earth’s atmosphere, it won’t work. If you shave off some from the surface I believe it works again.

      • ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de
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        6 months ago

        Like I said- “rub it”. The oxidized layer on metal is very, very, thin. It doesn’t take much at all to get rid of it.

        • papalonian@lemmy.world
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          6 months ago

          I didn’t realize that the layer was thin enough to rub away with minimal friction. I’d learned about this years ago so I could be misremembering things, but the source I read made it out as if it wasn’t a major concern with space exploration because it took substantial effort to cold weld things that had been exposed to air.