From the New York Times….
In a tour de force of office supply physics, researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, have shown that it is possible to produce X-rays by simply unrolling Scotch tape.
From latter on in the article…
The tape phenomenon could also lead to simple medical devices using bursts of electrons to destroy tumors. The scientists are looking to patent their ideas.
Well, phooey.
That does not mean that tape dispensers on office desks are mini X-ray machines. The phenomenon has been observed only when tape is unpeeled in a vacuum. Something about air, moisture perhaps, short-circuits the X-rays.
Who cares if they can, under some circumstances, give off X-rays, if you can’t use them as mini X-ray machines?