Re: Scotch tape, "Sticky Electrostatics"

[John Gastineau <gastineau@mindspring.com>]

At 12:52 AM 2/22/98 , Bill wrote:
> On Fri, 20 Feb 1998, John Gastineau wrote:
>
> > Take a 20-cm strip of tape, fold the last cm over to make a handle, and
> > stick it to your desk. Smooth it down well. 
>
> My vanity demands that I wonder aloud: might this have propagated from my
> original "sticky electrostatics" science museum handout from ten years
> ago, or did somebody else come up with the same thing independantly? 

It's always hard to say where ideas originated. I can confirm that I
didn't come up with the charged tape experiments. 

The book Electric and Magnetic Interactions, by Ruth Chabay and Bruce
Sherwood of CMU, is one that I have taught from several times. You can
find more info at http://cil.andrew.cmu.edu/emi.html. The book starts
with these tape experiments. 

Where did C&S get the tape ideas? I don't know. The book is from 1995. 

JEG

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