X-Rays from Sticky Tape

dudara

Following on from the phenomenon of triboluminescence, we now have X-Rays being produced when sticky tape is unrolled - strong enough to image a human finger apparently.

Link to Nature.

Sticky tape generates X-rays

How weird is that?

Katharine Sanderson


Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, have shown that simply peeling ordinary sticky tape in a vacuum can generate enough X-rays to take an image — of one of the scientists' own fingers (see videos).

"At some point we were a little bit scared," says Juan Escobar, a member of the research team. But he and his co-workers soon realized that the X-rays were only emitted when the kit was used in a vacuum. "We don't want to scare people from using Scotch tape in everyday life," Escobar adds.

This kind of energy release — known as triboluminescence and seen in the form of light — occurs whenever a solid (often a crystal) is crushed, rubbed or scratched. It is a long-known, if somewhat mysterious, phenomenon, seen by Francis Bacon in 1605. He noticed that scratching a lump of sugar caused it to give off light.

The leading explanation posits that when a crystal is crushed or split, the process separates opposite charges. When these charges are neutralized, they release a burst of energy in the form of light.

As long ago as 1953, a team of scientists based in Russia suggested that peeling sticky tape produced X-rays. But "we were very sceptical about the old results," says Escobar. His team decided to look into the phenomenon anyway, and found that X-rays were indeed given off, in high-energy pulses.

When the researchers placed a small plastic window in their vacuum chamber, they were even able to take an X-ray image of a finger, using a dental X-ray detector. Their results are published in Nature.
Mechanoluminescent mystery

"Of the total electron discharges, only one in ten thousand makes X-rays," says Escobar. The energies of the individual X-ray pulses, typically a few nanoseconds long, are about 15 kiloelectron volts.
fingerThe sticky tape can even help to take an X-ray image (superimposed) of a human finger.Carlos Camara, Juan Escobar and Seth Putterman

The energy of the X-rays is directly related to the amount of charge that builds up at the surface of the tape as it is peeled. The scientists calculate that this charge was ten times greater in their study than typically seen in similar experiments. "We are not exactly sure why the tape is so heavily charged," Escobar says.

The sticky-tape X-ray machine is also baffling others in the field. "You wouldn't have thought that so much of the mechanical energy would come out as X-rays," says Ken Suslick, an expert in mechanoluminescence at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. "The adhesive on the tape is an amorphous liquid, not crystalline. What's causing the transfer of charge, of electrons or protons, what the accepting and donor groups are — these things are much less clear."

The researchers suggest that the high charge density generated by peeling the tape could be great enough to trigger nuclear fusion. Michael Loughlin, a nuclear analyst at the international nuclear fusion experiment, ITER, in Cadarache, France, is sceptical. But he adds that if he is proved wrong, a system that could provide fusion reactions at the flick of a switch would be very useful.

Suslick now intends to revisit mechanoluminescent systems he has worked on in his lab to search for X-rays. Meanwhile, Escobar and his colleagues plan to look at different types of adhesive to see whether they get the same effect.

But the biggest challenge will be to figure out exactly how it works, Escobar says. "That's first on our list."

:|

yeah I heard about this, pretty interesting stuff! I presume it's not dangerous outside a vacuum...?

dudara

I wondered about the vacuum as well. I wonder how mitigated the effects of the X-rays are by air?

rgunning

Not very, x-ray have little air scatter, but that's not the reason for the vacuum here. If there is air around the tape, the static build-up and discharge cannot take place so the x-rays don't get generated in the first place.

Still though.... this is pretty amazing for the field of x-ray generation.

dudara wrote: »

I wondered about the vacuum as well. I wonder how mitigated the effects of the X-rays are by air?

norrie rugger

how possible would it be for field based x-ray machines? Could be useful in battle triage or charity work

Capt'n Midnight

norrie rugger wrote: »

how possible would it be for field based x-ray machines? Could be useful in battle triage or charity work

IIRC the previoiusly observed light from sellotape only occured in old tape several years old

Svenolsen

rgunning wrote: »

If there is air around the tape, the static build-up and discharge cannot take place so the x-rays don't get generated in the first place.

Not quite.

Try this:
Let your eyes become dark-adapted for 10 minutes by switching the lights around you off.

Take a very ordinary roll of masking tape.

Peel open the tape.

You will see a clear line of bright light along the separating "line of division".

You will probably also fall off your chair with surprise.

.

Professor_Fink

Svenolsen wrote: »

Take a very ordinary roll of masking tape.

Peel open the tape.

You will see a clear line of bright light along the separating "line of division"

Crushing polo mints is another good one.