Scotch Tape X-Rays

[ELUSIV]

http://www.switched.com/2008/10/23/scotch-tape-creates-x-rays-scientists-discover/

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.

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.

[EYEH8HSV]

they were talking bout this on triple j the other day..trippy stuff.

[Skitzo]

wish article explained how it worked.

[Mad_Aussie]

LOL african X-ray, wrap person in duct tape then pull it off with a ute

[chrged]

wish article explained how it worked.

In the new work, a machine peeled ordinary Scotch tape off a roll in a vacuum chamber at about 1.2 inches per second. Rapid pulses of X-rays, each about a billionth of a second long, emerged from very close to where the tape was coming off the roll.

That's where electrons jumped from the roll to the sticky underside of the tape that was being pulled away, a journey of about two-thousandths of an inch, Escobar said. When those electrons struck the sticky side they slowed down, and that slowing made them emit X-rays.

[Skitzo]

cheers.

[INSINR8R]

they were talking bout this on triple j the other day..trippy stuff.

yeah I heard that too, want to try it

[schnoods]

Very interesting, could be revolutionary stuff, though if i had a broken ankle i wouldnt want anyone peeling sticky tape on my ankle.

But it could work wonders, I know in the piping/welding industry there is a requirement to Xray alot of welds (almost all in fact) and the testers having to use xray machines and carry geigermeter/counter on them at all times to limit radiation. Could take all the risk and cost away.

[wadragracing]

Ok this may be totlly unrelate, but has anybody noticed when peeling certain envelopes open, light comes out? It sounds like I'm wacko I know, but you could peel open these envelopes and I shit you not there would be like little flashes of light, I don't know what it was. People I told didn't believe me until I showed them and they were like, oh shit you're right....can anone explain this phenomenon?

[deeman111]

In the army we get a ration packs in big tins that have a gaffa tape seal on the lid. When you pull the tape off you get that spark/light happening from where it is being peeled.

Aparently its to do with static or something i was told once. But it is pretty interesting
James

[vrocious]

yeah i've got this fancy dress costume of goku i made and when i take it off the static builds up and generates huge sparks that when you turn the light off it lights up. same thing as your envelopes