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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.
No, just that it makes it easier to guess what's inside the gift wrapping!
What are you doing taking a hamster on vacation?
On second thought, don't answer that.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
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.
Just remember, in space, no one can hear you clean.
The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them. - Mark Twain
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.
To be honest, my vaccuum is way too small for me to fit in, and really, all the dust inside it would probably stick all over the tape making the whole process worthless
[...] my vaccuum is way too small [...] all the dust inside it [...]
Vacuum physics knowledge FAIL.
Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
Only in the state of California...*ducks*
Be gone from my sight or prepare to feel my flaming wraith!
Sense of humor FAIL.
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.