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Scotch Tape Creates X-Rays, Scientists Discover

by Terrence O'Brien on October 23, 2008 at 11:19 AM

Scientists Take X-Ray with Scotch Tape
Straight from our "seriously?" files comes a scientific discovery that has us scratching our heads. Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) have discovered that peeling Scotch tape in a vacuum tube generates X-rays.

We're wondering what on Earth inspired these scientists to put a roll of Scotch tape in a vacuum in the first place. It only reinforces our suspicions that most scientists are just goofing around. Secondly, X-rays? Those same powerful light waves generated by exploding stars and giant machines that our dentists won't even get in the same room with can be generated by pulling at a $.99 roll of adhesive plastic? Wow.

Scientists even managed to develop a slightly blurry X-ray image of a finger using tape. They believe that with further research they could use the principles involved to build low cost and low power X-ray machines for use in areas of the world where the money and electricity to run traditional X-ray cameras are not readily available.

Don't worry about Scotch tape giving you cancer or making you sterile, though. In order to generate the X-ray, the tape must be peeled in a vacuum. Unless you're trying to repair the International Space Station with invisible tape, you should be safe. Maybe think twice before vacuuming over adhesive tape on the floor, though. [From: USA Today]

Tags: household, research, science, scotch tape, ScotchTape, studies, x ray, x-ray, XRay

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