X-RAY specs!. . .forget building your own x-ray machine..this household item found to emit x-rays. . .

[NewtonMP2100]

. . .scotch tape. . .in a vacuum. . .


Tape measure: X-rays detected from Scotch tape

. . .Just two weeks after a Nobel Prize highlighted theoretical work on subatomic particles, physicists are announcing a startling discovery about a much more familiar form of matter: Scotch tape.

It turns out that if you peel the popular adhesive tape off its roll in a vacuum chamber, it emits X-rays. The researchers even made an X-ray image of one of their fingers. . .


. . .So is this a health hazard for unsuspecting tape-peelers?

Escobar noted that no X-rays are produced in the presence of air. You need to work in a vacuum — not exactly an everyday situation.

"If you're going to peel tape in a vacuum, you should be extra careful," he said. But "I will continue to use Scotch tape during my daily life, and I think it's safe to do it in your office. No guarantees.". . .


I can SEE right through you. . .

[Paul F.]

If I was wearing a hat, it'd be off to ya...

That's just COOL!

I REALLY wish they'd quantified the amount of X-Rays produced... or at least compared it to that of a medical X-Ray.

I'll bet someone is going to win a Nobel Prize for explaining exactly HOW X-Rays are produced by peeling scotch tape off a roll...

[mrthuse]

Not sure, but I'd think the act of peeling the tape from the sticky surface between the layers of plastic would emit "something" that's generally no issue. Sort of how being in a dry, warm, carpeted room is usually no problem; walking across said carpet and then touching an appliance, another person, et al produces a shock/spark.

[Paul F.]

Yeah, but emit something on the chemical level... not the atomic level!

There is some real interesting process going on to liberate high energy X-Rays from SCOTCH TAPE!

[Jimmypoo]

Well... I'm never going to use THEIR brand of tape if I'm floating in space without a suit...

screw that!

There should be a warning label just in case!

[RAMd®d]

POMTL!!

jimmyp, that cracked me up!

[N-OS X-tasy!]

That's really cool. :-)

I sometimes wonder about how little we really know about the objects that surround us in our everyday lives. This is a perfect example of just how little we know.

[Racer X]

I have seen sparks countless times working in my darkroom and peeling tape off stuff. Not sure what is going on, but I believe then guy. The tape Kodak used to affix the 35mm film to canister spools was a big sparker. I always thought that it was odd, assuming Kodak knew, that they used light-emmiting tape on a photo sensitive product.

[OWC Jamie]

Now I need to remove the Hoover from my underground bunker.