What chemical compounds of tar make it sticky?

Question

any specific molecular compounds?

Answer 1

Tar is a generalized word denoting any crude often viscous and sticky mass made from the distructive distillation of an organic mass. Different tars have different chemical compositions. Often the word tar is preceded with a word that tells its source, such as Coal tar, Pine tar, etc.

In addition, Tar is often used to denote a petroleum product properly called Asphalt. Asphalt is not a tar by definition.

Tars tend to be sticky and viscous due to the presence of high molecular weight hydrocarbons. These do not have to be branched, but often are.

Hydrocarbons heavier than those found in tars are usually called resins. Resins tend to be solids. Some tars also contain dissolved resins (solid materials).

Answer 2

This is my situation: my mom smoked ciggs her whole life, my dad smoked weed. My mom always had smokers cough and that smoker look to her, and when she quit, she stopped coughing, and looked younger. My dad never coughed once from smoking, only looked high when he was high (duh, haha), and was exactly the same when he quit. I also smoke weed everyday, and an occasional cigarette. You see,[most] the people here that protest weed, I am almost certain, have never smoked it over a long period of time like me and my dad have. You find out that it's actually harmless, and no matter how stupid you think it makes you, you always recover from it when it's out of your system. It's a lot less harmful than cigarettes, because weed gets you high by increasing your heart rate. Because of this, your brain isnt used to the amount of blood getting to it, and you get that "high" feeling. Thats from the one chemical called THC (there are more, about 4,000, but thats the only active ingredient). And as long as your smoking out of a water pipe of any sort, like a bubbler or bong, you're pretty safe. Cigarettes on the other hand have about 40,000 chemicals, and they get you buzzed because of not one chemical, but many many chemicals that increase your heart rate as a result. The heart rate thing helps with the buzz of a cigarette, and all those gross *** chemicals do the rest. I'd rather go to a hookah bar than smoke a cigarette. You should try going to one if you can. Some other facts include overdosing. I don't know if you've ever had nicotine poisioning, but it's the worst feeling ever. You get really hot and sweaty, and feel really nauseous for about a half hour. Its kinda like having a instant hangover x2. You'll definitely throw up or dry heave for a while. Weed, on the other hand, is impossible to overdose on. You simply cannot do it. You might think you're going to have a heart attack when you get really high, but you don't. You'll be fine enough to eat all the **** in your house. Yeah, the only thing weed will cause is the munchies, and that's due to dehydration. If you drink some water you'll be fine. And don't hold in your hits for more than 10 seconds. After 3-5 seconds, 95% of THC has been absorbed and you're just tearing up your lungs after that. In conclusion, I'd say cigarettes are more harmful, and I'd bet my life on it, not because I read some stupid biased article about it and, but because I lived it. Please be safe if you decide to smoke weed, and have a blast!

Answer 3

Tar is made up of very long chain hydrocarbons, the same structures which go into plastics and resins. High branching and length leads to tangling of chains and thereby increase its viscosity and adhesion.