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Podcast Transcript: You’re pulling tape off the roll and it starts to tear. Or you’re removing wallpaper and it refuses to strip off in strips. Or, in what may be the most infuriating case, literally, you’re trying to unwrap a CD or DVD. And you’re confronted with shards of plastic everywhere. Well, the universe has truly conspired against you. Because when it comes to tearing these layers, the laws of physics now show that that’s just the way it is.
Physicists address the so-called “Wallpaper Problem” in the March 30th online edition of the journal Nature Materials. What happens is that when you tear things, you get triangles. Because of three properties of the adhesive materials being torn: the stiffness, the strength of the adhesion and how tough the material is to rip. When you pull on the strip, energy builds up where the tape or coating is still attached to the surface below. That energy can get released in two ways—by unpeeling from the surface, which you want. Or by becoming narrower, ultimately making those annoying little triangles.
—Steve Mirsky
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4 Comments
Add CommentGreat, you have determined WHY packaging is poorly made. Now find a way to make GOOD packaging that is easy to remove, and stop with the "that's just the way it is" comments.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thiscandide08, you appear to be confused about the purpose of this blog. 60-sec Science contains brief scientific explanations of everyday phenomena, not announcements of new technological breakthroughs.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThey don't WANT you to be able to unwrap it easily. That's also why they have those obnoxious shiny stickers along the edge of the box. If you could unwrap it quickly and unobtrusively, you could take out the disk and slip it under your coat or whatever.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisLook at gum wrappers for a contrast. There's a nice little nylon pull-thingie that overcomes the cellophane's tendency to shred, and you get it open right away.
Scientific American:
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThank you for taking the time to post the transcript to these podcasts!
Chip
Yokohama, Japan