Tape Screech Demystified: Tiny Sonic Booms From Adhesive Cracks
Physicists explain Scotch tape’s open‑air screech as a sequence of tiny, sideways cracks in the adhesive that form as you peel. These cracks open nanoscopic gaps between tape and surface; air can’t rush in fast enough to fill them, so a pressure pulse travels with each crack to the tape’s edge and collapses into the surrounding air, producing the audible screech. High‑speed cameras and synchronized microphones linked each pulse to a crack reaching the edge. The same team noted earlier vacuum experiments can emit X‑rays with tape flown in a perfect vacuum, but the in‑air screech comes from the crack‑driven pressure pulses.
