X-Rays From Scotch Tape
October 24th, 2008 by
Editor: Scott
I’m not sure which is more surprising: that you can generate x-rays by pulling apart scotch tape in a vacuum or that we have a named branch of science devoted to “things rubbing together”.
a couple of guys at UCLA who’ve built a machine for unpeeling sticky-tape in a vacuum at the rate of 3 centimeters per second for the express purpose of generating x-rays.
Amazingly, it works. Check out the video for proof.
The authors write that current theories of tribology, the science of things rubbing together, don’t fully explain the amount of energy their machine generates. The search for a better theory of triboluminescence could lead to a greater understanding of electron behavior at the interface between two surfaces exhibiting stick-slip friction like, say, earthquake faults.
