Forget fancy particle accelerators — a cheaper tool for emitting X-rays is right there in the office supply cabinet. Pulling back Scotch tape emits X-rays, the same high-energy light emanating from airport security scanners and the interiors of galaxy clusters, and scientists now have a better understanding of why.
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Physicists were dumbfounded two years ago when UCLA researchers produced quick flashes of X-ray light by peeling Scotch tape in a vacuum. Scientists have known since the dawn of 3M Scotch tape in the 1930s that pulling the adhesive emits blue light. But to discover that X-rays also fly out was perplexing because X-rays are a hundred thousand times more energetic than the chemical bonds holding the sticky side down.
Not only that, says UCLA physicist Seth Putterman, the light can pulse a billion times a second from a region only 100 micrometers in size, or about the width of a human hair.