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X-Rays Emitted From Ordinary Scotch Tape
Maximum Prophet writes "When I was in High School, I built an X-Ray machine that (probably) didn't produce any X-Rays. I used an old vacuum tube and high voltage. Little did I know that simple triboluminescence would have enough energy to do useful work." The catch: you'll need to peel your tape in a vacuum, and have the x-ray film at the ready.
does this mean that x-mas gifts can give you cancer?
The catch: you'll need to peel your tape in a vacuum
I've been practicing this for years. I knew it would come in handy some day.
Sounds like a job for....
THE GLOVEBOX!!!
No, not that glovebox, this glovebox. What do you think this is, a redneck website?
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
The claims for the patent are, of course, not really indicated, but since the article itself states
Actually, more than 50 years ago, some Russian scientists reported evidence of X-rays from peeling sticky tape off glass.
I hope that either they've invented something truly novel to do with this effect or they get a big, fat denied letter in the mail from the USPTO.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
The catch: you'll need to peel your tape in a vacuum
Oh trust me, I "peel my tape in a vacuum" all the time....
This guy's the limit!
I'm sure, almost certain, that the ripping sound you hear is the sound of a million geeks all pulling about 1.2 inches of tape off of their desktop dispenser.
Bonus points if it's now wrapped around your finger as a memento.
Stressed? Me? Of course not. Stress is what a rubber band feels before it breaks, silly.
Did you know that Brazil nuts are radioactive? And so is granite! There's radiation everywhere! Luckily, I have a hat.
(-1, Raw and Uncut is the only way to read)
So I should avoid opening Christmas presents too close to the Hoover...check.
See, this is why I read Slashdot: useful tips like this one. My wife always runs the vacuum around the Christmas tree before we go to bed on Christmas Eve, and often she just leaves it there right by the tree. Luckily, my kids have developed gift opening techniques that somehow manage to rip the wrapping paper into several hundred small pieces without ever disengaging the tape, so they probably haven't been exposed to too much radiation thus far, but we'll have to be sure to put the vacuum back in the closet before going to bed from now on.
"Hey baby, I'm gonna get some scotch tape cause I wanna see your insides."
-or-
"If I'm scotch tape and your the vacuum then why don't we go release some energy."
-or even-
"If you want rapid pulses, I'll give you 1.2 inches a second."
but instead you went with:
Oh trust me, I "peel my tape in a vacuum" all the time....
I'm sorry but I just can't accept that.
Well, back to rejecting software patent applications.
Um, X-rays don't hurt. Stupid-rays do, though. That's probably what you were feeling.
Or a pony.
In which case the pony-shaped wrapping and the labored breathing give it away.
The article suggests Bremsstrahlung (note the 3rd paragraph of the linked article) of the electrons jumping from the non-sticky surface to the sticky surface of the tape - I guess the air present in a non-vacuum situation lets the electrons slow gradually or maybe have lower initial velocity - that part is unclear from the article.
...the future crusty old bastards are already drinking the Kool-Aid.
I see you got to your pony on xmas faster than I did.
Typical X-ray machines use 50 to 200 kilovolts and milliamps of electrons slamming into a tungsten target. Nothing less will do.
It's kinda unlikely Scotch (brand) tape can bypass all the bottlenecks and emit copious X-rays.
It's much more likely they're getting electrostatic discharges in the film. The New Age loonballs call it "Kirlian Photography".
I'll be glad to eat a hat if this pans out. Until then I'll just wear it.
Will this lead to a wave of new sticky-tape-related superheroes?
Yes!
First up, The Great Scotch. He's Scottish, wears traditional Scottish garb including the plaid kilt, is constantly drunk off X-ray enriched Scotch from his secret distillery(some say it is the source of his powers), and fights crime with super-strong and seemingly endless strips of sticky tape that he pulls from underneath his kilt. He won't say where it comes from, which is good because nobody asks. His arch-nemesis is 3M corporation, who are constantly trying to sue him for trademark infringement. No relationship to The Great Scott, who is a transsexual from Transylvania who uses toilet paper as a weapon...
Next up, for 'urban' markets, The Gift Rapper! He swings around the city on lines of sticky tape that he shoots from his wrists. He disguises himself by covering his entire body in wrapping paper which he changes regularly, to match any nearby holidays for example. The Gift Rapper robs riches from crooked developers, organized criminals, drug lords, and cops on the take. He then delivers the riches to the poor children, gift-wrapped of course, and then performs a free-style rap that combines horrible puns and trite moral lessons about not being greedy, listening to parents, and staying in school for the decreasingly-grateful youngsters. Speculation abounds as to which no-name underground rapper-no-really-see-I-have-a-demo-tape is his secret identity.
And at this point one part of my brain is threatening the other part with an aneurysm if I don't stop, so I will.
The enemies of Democracy are
a phenomenon I learned about in photography class many years ago. Back in the days of film a roll of 35mm film was attached to the spool inside the canister by a small bit of tape. In the darkroom as you disassembled the canister to remove the film for processing, if you peeled this tape quickly the "peeling", or "stretching" adhesive would glow. We learned to peel the tape slowly because the glow from rapidly pulled tape was sufficient to fog film.
Don't save the big one for last.
I guess that solves the x-ray problem. Lots of glue for next xmas.