Question

Why was Spencer Silver's work an essential part of

Fry's invention?

Fry remembered a curious adhesive - a strong and yet
easily removed "unglue"- that Spencer Silver, another
3M researcher, had come upon several years earlier. ...
Silver felt the unusual adhesive might have some
commercial value, and so he demonstrated it to various
colleagues, including Fry. At the time, no one had come
up with a use for it, and so the formula for the weak
adhesive was filed away - until the Monday morning
when Fry came to work with the idea of making sticky
bookmarks that could also be removed without damaging
the book.
- The Evolution of Useful Things,
Henry Petroski
O He worked alongside Fry on the sticky notes
O He convinced other people to believe in Fry's
invention
He told Fry about the "unglue" that he had
discovered
O He came up with a commercial use for the "unglue."

Answer 1

Spencer Silver's work an essential part of Fry's invention because he told Fry about the "unglue" that he had discovered. Option C is the right answer.

Explanation:

Spencer Silver several years ago had come up with a different kind of adhesive which was strong but could also be removed but he wasn’t sure or had very less idea as to how it would be of great help commercially. So, that it can be put to use, he had shown it many of his colleagues, one of whom was Fry. Since no one could come up with any bright ideas, the invention was kept aside. But one fine day Fry got an idea of using Silver’s invention to make bookmarks and thus, post-it bookmarks came into being.

Answer 2

He told Fry about the "unglue" that he had discovered

Step-by-step explanation:

Silver invented the formula for the weak glue and believed that there could be a commercial use for it. Silvers work was the basis for fry's invention because the sticky bookmarks basic mechanism was to stick to the paper through the weak glue and then unglue without damaging the paper.

If it weren't for silvers weak glue formula, bookmarks would not have come into existence.