Thursday, October 23, 2008

triboluminescence

Sticky tape generates X-rays

Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, have shown that simply peeling ordinary sticky tape in a vacuum can generate enough X-rays to take an image — of one of the scientists' own fingers (see videos).

"At some point we were a little bit scared," says Juan Escobar, a member of the research team. But he and his co-workers soon realized that the X-rays were only emitted when the kit was used in a vacuum. "We don't want to scare people from using Scotch tape in everyday life," Escobar adds.

Archivist Beth Heller disagrees with that last point:
Yes, actually. We do. We want to scare people from using Scotch tape on archival documents and works of art. Let’s not forget to mention radiation in our tape prevention lectures, shall we?

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