Gilded Posted October 23, 2008 Share Posted October 23, 2008 Tribology is a branch of physics (or materials science) you don't hear about too often, but this is a very intriguing discovery: Physicists discover an unexpected source of X-rays "Even the lowliest kind of sticky tape can leave physicists befuddled. Unrolling tape in a vacuum produces X-rays — enough of them to do X-ray imaging, researchers have found. No current theory can explain such intensity of X-ray emissions, the scientists write in the Oct. 23 Nature." The mechanism resembles closely to that of X-ray tubes so it doesn't work without a vacuum, but it's still pretty damn amazing. MacGyver would be proud. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swansont Posted October 23, 2008 Share Posted October 23, 2008 I saw this this morning and read the blurb on it. I've seen blue light emanating from some adhesives, such as band-aid and breathe-right strip wrappers, so UV wouldn't have surprised me. But to get up to X-rays is. Cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Skeptic Posted October 24, 2008 Share Posted October 24, 2008 I wonder how long until some silly group decides that we need to ban tape because it is dangerous and emits radioactivity? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YT2095 Posted October 24, 2008 Share Posted October 24, 2008 I was rather hoping shares in 3M and Dyson would take off Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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