Question: What makes a substance feel sticky?

Rebecca Dewey answered on 25 Jun 2015:

I’m not sure I’m qualified to answer this one, and I don’t fully understand “adhesion” the property that causes things to stick together, or to feel sticky. I think stickiness is caused by “dispersive adhesion” and is where two materials are held together by van der Waals forces. These forces are an attraction between two molecules. Sorry, that’s not a very good answer!