Duct tape can be found in the tool box of any self-respecting handyman, but the versatile product's potential extends far beyond home repairs. Have you heard that it can be used for such things as a drink holder, to remove pet hair, warts, to prevent deer electrocution, for holiday footwear, sweaters, and pants, for a kayak, gardening, a camper, or a toothpaste tube fix? Are you familiar with the origins of duct tape?
Before the invention of duct tape,
packages of ammunition that were sent to the military were sealed with wax to
keep their contents waterproof. The cardboard flaps were held shut with a strip
of paper tape with a tab hanging loose that would allow soldiers to rip open
the boxes in a hurry. Because this type of tape wasn’t very strong, the tabs
would often tear off in their hands and leave soldiers struggling to free their
ammunition in the heat of battle.
Hoping to solve the problem, Vesta Stoudt, a
mother of two Navy sailors and a worker at the Green River Ordnance Plant in
Illinois, wrote to President Franklin Roosevelt with an idea: "I
suggested we use a strong cloth tape to close seams, and make tab of same … I
have two sons out there somewhere, one in the Pacific Island the other one with
the Atlantic Fleet. You have sons in the service also. We can’t let them
down by giving them a box of cartridges that takes a minute or more to open,
the enemy taking their lives that could have been saved."
Roosevelt passed along the letter to
the War Production Board in Washington, D.C., who contacted Johnson &
Johnson to develop the product. The result was a strong, waterproof tape that
soldiers could still tear apart with their hands in a pinch. Here are some
surprising facts about this reliable adhesive called “duct tape.”
1.
A WHOLE LOT
MORE: The TV
series, Mythbusters, has devoted three entire episodes to exploring some of duct
tape’s most extreme applications. The team was able to successfully use duct
tape to patch a damaged airplane fuselage, construct a functioning cannon,
build a usable bridge, and lift a 5000-pound car. Of the 18 myths
they tested, only one was busted (turns out you can’t use duct tape to
barricade a car driving at 60 mph).
2.
DUCT TAPE
HELPED SAVE APOLLO 13: Following an explosion aboard the
ship’s service module, the three members of the Apollo 13 crew transferred to a
lunar module designed to hold two people for 36 hours.
They had to find a way to last more than twice that long, and the biggest
threat to their survival was the carbon dioxide being created by their own
bodies. While they had plenty of square carbon dioxide filters on board,
they were incompatible with the lunar module’s round holes.
Engineers at the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
devised a solution that involved using cardboard, plastic bags, space suit
components, and duct tape that was kept on board to create an adapter
that would filter out carbon dioxide. This hack ultimately saved the
astronauts’ lives.
This wasn’t the only time duct tape proved to be useful in
outer space. The tape has been stored on board every NASA mission since the early Gemini era.
Some of its handy applications include making emergency rover repairs, fixing
leaky pipes, and keeping items secure in zero gravity.
3.
DUCT TAPE TO
SUIT EVERY NEED: Specialty varieties of the product include outdoor duct tape,
double-sided duct tape, glow-in-the-dark duct tape, and nuclear-grade duct tape (the latter is certified for use in nuclear power plants).
4.
IT HAS BEEN
USED TO PREVENT INFECTION: Hospital-acquired
infections account for 99,000 preventable deaths in the U.S. each year. In order to safely fight infection
while saving doctors time and effort, the Trinity Medical Center system of
hospitals in the Midwest came up with a rather simple solution. They used duct
tape to mark 3-foot-square “safe zones” extending from the doorway into a
patient's room.
This allowed physicians to casually converse with their
patients without having to change into full sterile gear every time they wanted
to check in. Research shows that the duct tape idea saved the hospital system
$110,000 a year and 2700 hours of staff time.
5.
IT OWES ITS
STICKINESS TO PHYSICS: While many adhesives, like Elmer’s
glue, need to undergo a physical change in order to stick to something, duct
tape works a little differently. Its stickiness is created by a pressure-sensitive
adhesive (PSA), which is a soft polymer blend
that employs van der Waals forces to attract two surfaces.
These intermolecular forces are weak on their own, but with
enough of them, they are capable of supporting very heavy loads (this is the
same principle that allows geckos to
stick to walls). Other adhesives, like glues and epoxies, are liquid when you
apply them, but they react chemically and harden,
They don't change at all. They are in the solid state when
you apply them, and they stick in their solid state. This makes duct tape the
perfect option if you’re looking for a super strong adhesive that's also
removable.
6.
THE NAME
"DUCK TAPE" CAME FIRST: Since its origins,
the tape has consisted of three major components: a bottom layer of glue, mesh fabric, and a polyethylene
plastic coating on top to keep it water-resistant. According to Johnson &
Johnson, soldiers nicknamed the material "duck tape" in
reference to its ability to repel moisture "like water off a duck’s
back."
7.
THERE’S AN
ANNUAL DUCT TAPE FESTIVAL: Since 2005, Avon,
OH, has hosted an annual duct tape
festival dedicated to celebrating "duct tape, its enthusiasts, and its
wacky and fun uses." The event
features duct tape sculptures, a duct tape fashion show, and a parade of giant
floats constructed using duct tape.
8.
WEARING DUCT
TAPE TO PROM COULD EARN YOU A SCHOLARSHIP: Duck brand duct
tape offers a rather unusual
scholarship to high schoolers who are willing
to get creative with their product. Every prom season, they call upon students
to design and create their own suits and dresses for the big day using duct
tape. The winning couple of the "Stuck at Prom"
competition is awarded a $10,000 scholarship each along with an additional
$5000 for their high school.
9.
YOU CAN’T USE
IT IN DUCTS: Following World War II, duct tape began to catch on in the U.S. as a handy tool for home construction. People were using it
to hold metal air ducts together, so the company rebranded the product as
"duct tape" and updated it with a matching silver color made from
powdered aluminum. Today, its namesake usage is one of the few things that duct
tape isn’t recommended for.
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory conducted tests in 1998 to see how well different types of tape performed at
sealing ducts, and, compared to the other products, duct tape was the clear loser.
Of all the things we tested, only duct tape failed. It failed reliably and
often quite catastrophically. Using duct tape on actual ductwork is now
considered a code violation in
many buildings.
“You only need two tools in life: WD-40 and duct tape.
If it doesn't move and should, use the WD-40. If it shouldn't move and does,
use the duct tape.” (Anonymous) [i]
[i] Sources used:
·
“10 Durable Facts about Duct Tape” BY Michele Debczak
·
“12 Things You
Didn't Know You Could Do With Duct Tape” by MSN.com
·
“NASA” from Wikipedia
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