Sign in to follow this  
Ian Wood

X-rays detected from Scotch tape

Recommended Posts

NEW YORK – 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.

 

Who knew? Actually, more than 50 years ago, some Russian scientists reported evidence of X-rays from peeling sticky tape off glass. But the new work demonstrates that you can get a lot of X-rays, a study co-author says.

 

"We were very surprised," said Juan Escobar. "The power you could get from just peeling tape was enormous."

 

Escobar, a graduate student at the University of California, Los Angeles, reports the work with UCLA colleagues in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature.

 

He suggests that with some refinements, the process might be harnessed for making inexpensive X-ray machines for paramedics or for places where electricity is expensive or hard to get. After all, you could peel tape or do something similar in such machines with just human power, like cranking.

 

By MALCOLM RITTER, AP Science Writer Malcolm Ritter, Ap Science Writer – Wed Oct 22, 8:59 pm ET

 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Who knew?

Edited by Ian Wood

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Well, if you are in a vacuum it might be harmful. Anyway, I believe you will get more radiation from the sun than from Scotch Tape. That is my opinion along with some training I got when I first got on board USS Harry S. Truman.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
Sign in to follow this