"Invisible Electrostatic Wall" at 3M adhesive tape plant (1996)

Re:"Invisible Electrostatic Wall" at 3M adhesive tape plant ... by Hacktivist on Thursday November 24, 2011 @11:35AM (#3274744)

Here is some more information on the phenomenon that causes this

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triboluminescence

The most interesting section is how UCLA researchers created such powerful results that they were able to x-ray fingers.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9613962...

There are also a couple of videos on Youtube that show the effect in action.

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Re:"Invisible Electrostatic Wall" at 3M adhesive tape plant ... by Qz on Thursday November 24, 2011 @11:26PM (#3276208)

Is this the same kind of light you can make from the static electricity in say a polyester blanket on the couch?

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Re:"Invisible Electrostatic Wall" at 3M adhesive tape plant ... by yread on Thursday November 24, 2011 @12:11PM (#3274834)

Are you sure? There is no light involved

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Re:"Invisible Electrostatic Wall" at 3M adhesive tape plant ... by ars on Thursday November 24, 2011 @05:01PM (#3275522)

If there are sparks there is light. A spark is a very wide band transmitter - it creates just about every single frequency of light possible.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spark_gap_transmitter

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Re:"Invisible Electrostatic Wall" at 3M adhesive tape plant ... by Hacktivist on Thursday November 24, 2011 @09:09PM (#3275973)

I guess I shouldn't have used such a strong word like "causes this" since the article was more about the force field and not the source of the ionized air.

The point is that if the tape spool can create such a strong field then there is more than likely a visible light being created at the interface of the spool and tape caused by the charged atmospheric nitrogen which releases a photon when leaving the excited state.

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Re:"Invisible Electrostatic Wall" at 3M adhesive tape plant ... by fleitz on Thursday November 24, 2011 @12:19PM (#3274858)

Photons mediate the electromagnetic force it's very likely there was light involved.

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