[spinlock1315]

I am putting together an art project where I will be gluing bottle and jar tops to primed canvas, openings down, by coating the inner rim just before flipping, placing, weighting them down. I am worried the glue will never completely dry(just like it does not dry in the sealed bottle).

I believe the glue dries when moisture leaves the glue, but since the canvas is pre-primed, not much will leech into the canvas. Also, since the glue is in an enclosed, tiny airspace, the air will become super-saturated and can not take all the moisture from the glue(just as in the sealed bottle).

Right/wrong?

If right, if I put a pinhole in each top, that will be above any glue and never blocked, will that be enough to allow complete drying?

spin

PS I know I can experiment, but wanted to see what theory says.

thanks,

[Arkcon]

PS I know I can experiment,

And we wish you would, that way, you learn, and we also learn.  Win-win.

but wanted to see what theory says.

So you want a peer-reviewed reference on Elmer's glue?  Or you want a textbook calculation with a balanced chemical equation?  I don't suspect you'll find that here.  I'm sorry to single you out for this, but we get this sort of question from time to time, and this is the only answer.  And sometimes people get angry, or call us stupid, or repost 10 times, or leave and never come back.  And I hate that it seems like we here on the Chemical Forums are not trying to help.

Now, you can try it, or ask an art instructor, and they may tell you to try it.  Or they may confirm, "Nope, Elmers water-based glue won't dry, use rubber cement or epoxy polymer glue."  Or heck, you can just call Elmer's on the phone number on the back of the bottle and ask them, they'll be glad to help.

But we're not likely to have an expert for you very rapidly.  For Elmer's glue theory.  Or how to dissolve a rock in front of your door.  Or to repel gypsies, pirates or rioters.  Or how to preserve film stock.  Or for why your medicine seems to not work.  (We have had questions on all these topics and more.)

[billnotgatez]

...  if I put a pinhole in each top...

How will you justify the aesthetic choice during critique?

And
As I do science and art I find that so many factors can come into play that it is hard to predict all outcomes. So I experiment.

I did a GOOGLE on

how does elmers white glue works

and got several hits
One of them was the company's web site
http://elmers.com/

Another web site that I have not verified it's accuracy said

White glue, commonly used in the classroom of elementary school students, works through evaporation. The water in the white glue evaporates and the polyvinyl-acetate latex (a non-toxic substance) that remains forms a flexible bond. Because white glue dries by evaporating, white glue dries faster on wood (because wood absorbs some of the water) than leather (which doesn't absorb water, so the water in the glue must evaporate completely). Although white glue (such as Elmer's Glue) generally dries in 20 to 30 minutes, it takes 24-hours for the bond to reach its full strength.

http://john.hultgren.org/trivia/glue.html

And of course we might use WIKI
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elmer%27s_Products