chemistry

UHU

UHU is a chemistry topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand UHU rather than just read about it. In short: UHU GmbH & Co. KG is a German manufacturer of adhesive products, based in Bühl, Germany.

Key takeaways

UHU belongs to chemistry; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect UHU to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of UHU from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

UHU GmbH & Co. KG is a German manufacturer of adhesive products, based in Bühl, Germany. Its company slogan is "glues anything, anytime.". The company logo is yellow with black lettering and in many markets it includes the German phrase: "Der Alleskleber" (the "everything-glue"). The products are now sold in over 125 countries around the world.

History

In 1905, August Fischer, a dispensing chemist, purchased a small chemical plant aiming to manufacture inks, rubber stamp pads, paints and adhesives. In 1932, Fischer developed a clear synthetic resin adhesive which displayed the ability to affix almost any material. Following the custom of the time to name products in the writing goods sector after birds, Fischer named the glue UHU (pronounced in German as [ˈuːhu], with in being common in many English-speaking countries) after Uhu, the onomatopoeic German name for the eagle-owl, a bird which at the time could still be found in the Black Forest. There is an account of glue being used by British prisoners of war in Germany during WW2, and this is referred to by them as 'Uhu'. Another version of the origin of the company's name is that it supplied the glue in kits for a model airplane named "UHU" (Owl). This model design was built by German youngsters for an annual contest named "Der Kleine Uhu" (the small owl) that began around 1950. The contest was very popular, and the glue became a popular item with German hobbyists, so the name stuck. In 1971, Fischer's company, renamed UHU after its leading product, was taken over by the Beecham Group of England (which subsequently became a part of GlaxoSmithKline), but regained independence for a few years after a management buyout in 1989. In 1994, UHU became a totally owned subsidiary of the Bolton Group, an Italian manufacturer of branded consumer goods.

Operations and products Production activities are mainly concentrated in Europe, while product distribution takes place in 125 countries. UHU products are intended for domestic, professional, educational and hobby use. The company markets adhesives and glues formulated for different materials, including paper, wood, plastic and metal. Since 2016, it has introduced a line of glues made from plant-based materials, with reduced plastic and free of solvents.

Guinness World Records The company has achieved one world record in Germany, in October 2007. A Ford pickup truck weighing about four tonnes was suspended from a crane with the help of UHU glue. Two steel parts 7 centimetres (2.8 in) in diameter were glued together with an UHU derivative and were used to connect car and crane hook. This record was subsequently beaten in March 2009 by the German firm Henkel, who lifted a similar Ford truck, this time with a Smart microcar in the back, giving a total weight of 5.02 tonnes.

References

External links UHU GmbH & Co. KG homepage

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with UHU

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what UHU claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In chemistry, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to UHU before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about UHU ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of UHU

In research: UHU appears in chemistry research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses UHU in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: UHU is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Adhesives, Chemical companies of Germany, Companies based in Baden-Württemberg, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for UHU outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study UHU in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what UHU means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain UHU out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is UHU in simple terms?

UHU GmbH & Co. KG is a German manufacturer of adhesive products, based in Bühl, Germany.

Why does UHU matter?

Because it connects several chemistry ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study UHU?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on UHU.

UHU