Oct 24 2008I Smell Cancer!: Scotch Tape Emits X-Rays
So scotch tape can produce x-rays (that's a real picture taken with a 30-second exposure showing visible light emission from a roll).
In a tour de force of office supply physics, researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, have shown that it is possible to produce X-rays by simply unrolling Scotch tape.
In the current issue of the journal Nature, Dr. Putterman and his colleagues report that surprisingly fierce flows of electrons were unleashed as the tape was unpeeled and its gooey adhesive snapped free of the surface. The electrical currents, in turn, generated strong, short bursts of X-rays -- each burst, about a billionth of a second long, contained about 300,000 X-ray photons.
Great, so now I have finger cancer.
UPDATE: My stapler cured me!
From a Strip of Scotch Tape, X-Rays [nytimes]
Thanks to Raymond, mkaggie, and Sarahj, who have all been exposed to Post-Its.
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Reader Comments
1. Ash - October 24, 2008 1:08 PM
I want the good kind of cancer the king where you get the voice box
2. Ash - October 24, 2008 1:09 PM
fail (kind)
3. Composer - October 24, 2008 1:09 PM
Too bad you have to do it in a vacuum or else it won't work. Yes I RTFA.
4. Ash - October 24, 2008 1:11 PM
I guess i should stop using Scotch tape in bondage
5. mamadough - October 24, 2008 1:12 PM
we can't eat glue, we can't eat paint, does this mean i can't eat the tape anymore?
6. TochiroV - October 24, 2008 1:12 PM
neglected to mention From The F***in' Article is that this only occurs when the tape is peeled in an absolute vaccum. which does not happen in every day,
normal use is perfectly safe, there are no electrons / x rays emitted.
7. Thumperchica - October 24, 2008 1:13 PM
And this is why we use duct-tape ladies and gentlemen
8. BOOSH - October 24, 2008 1:13 PM
free lunch friday
9. mamadough - October 24, 2008 1:15 PM
lol @4, how many rolls do you go thru? try using duck tape. only small childrens hands can escape from that shit. but they're not talking.
10. Sharpie - October 24, 2008 1:16 PM
@8 Free lunch every day. thats what happens when you work at a fortune 100 company though hahaha. i just realized free lunch is going to make me fat!
11. Daisy - October 24, 2008 1:16 PM
Fake!!!
That's an obvious fake. You can tell because the shadows are ALL wrong. Last time i looked inside a Vacuum it was all dark, and dusty. Theres none of that here.
This could possibly be a close up of Baja's school project in the Movie NEver Back Down though. She did an experiment about using scotch tape as a fiber optic cable. This way you could just tape the cables to the walls and on top of each other.
12. Ash - October 24, 2008 1:19 PM
Thanks for the tip mamadough your right 50 dollars worth of scotch tape is just not worth a night of pleasure. I only pay 20 for the escort
13. Douchie Mc Bagman - October 24, 2008 1:21 PM
@10 - I knew it - Sharpie works at Wal-Mart, or maybe the PC Connection in Merrimac. I'm guessing the Wal-Mart. He's retarded enough to like the blue vest, and would make a perfect greeter.
14. Sharpie - October 24, 2008 1:24 PM
@13 if you must know. I work at FactSet Reseach Systems
www.factset.com
15. Atrides - October 24, 2008 1:31 PM
Close scrutiny of the X-Ray discharge will illustrate how the good people at 3M are saying "f*** you" to us all.
16. Douchie Mc Bagman - October 24, 2008 1:32 PM
Must be some commute from Manchester, NH.
17. Sharpie - October 24, 2008 1:33 PM
What are you talking about 16? we are world wide. i work in the data center for NH its about 5 minute from my house.
18. Konkey Dong - October 24, 2008 1:34 PM
scotch tape is for n3wbz.
19. LSDiesel - October 24, 2008 1:36 PM
Who knew that a product designed to hold things together would make us fall apart.
20. JaC - October 24, 2008 1:42 PM
This just makes me wonder about all of the accidental science going on around us everyday. I masturbated so fast once, I coulda swore it was glowing.
21. JohnnyIrish - October 24, 2008 1:44 PM
@19
Hmm.. Its was created by machines it must be the robots!
Wait.. What ever happened to those people who blame everything on the robot apocalypse? Did they leave when GW went on hiatus due to women issues?
22. Ash - October 24, 2008 1:45 PM
exactly LSDiesel. This could be a sticky situation for 3m, Thats what happens when you cut through red tape.
23. DrNecropolis - October 24, 2008 1:54 PM
Great! Now I don't have to worry about my insurance covering x-rays anymore. Break a bone? X-ray it yourself then tape it in place, no problemo! Trust me, I'm a doctor
24. Douchie Mc Bagman - October 24, 2008 2:21 PM
all dicks and no boobs make Sharpie a dull fag.
25. Uncle Eccoli - October 24, 2008 2:21 PM
@3 & 6 Thank you.
26. Sharpie - October 24, 2008 2:46 PM
@24 maybe if you are feeling that lonely douchie, i can get u a job in my company. u could pick up shit behind me.
P.S the dental is free.
27. Douchie Mc Bagman - October 24, 2008 2:50 PM
Q: how many Sharpies does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: 2. one to tell us that everything possible was being done to remedy the situation, while the other screws the bulb into a water faucet.
So very factset researcher of him.
28. Pete_the_cat - October 24, 2008 11:08 PM
The NY times article about this phenomena says that peeling tape also releases visual light, even outside of a vacuum. I just tried it in a dark room. Coolest trick I've learned all week!!
29. Hao - October 26, 2008 1:36 AM
Hao is a rankmaniac http://rankmaniac.haosu.org
30. Airkeeper - November 4, 2008 3:28 AM
I also RTFA.
I bet MacGyver already knew it was possible could create fusion using heavy hydrogen ion sctoch tape.
31. jordan - November 23, 2008 4:20 AM
the real cause of arthritis maybe?
32. louis vuitton - September 29, 2009 2:45 AM
I want the good kind of cancer the king where you get the voice box