- #1
GRB 080319B
- 108
- 0
Why does clear tape (used to tape up cardboard boxes) become increasingly harder to tear along the axis that it is stretched? It seems that after a certain amount of deformation, it becomes nearly impossible to tear. This seems to be different then just the restoring force (as opposed to stretching a rubber band, where the restoring force increases but the band is still breakable), and was wondering if it had to do possibly with the restructuring of polymers in the tape during the stretching. Also, the stretching creates a corrugation pattern of the tape perpendicular to the axis that the tape is stretched along. I was wondering if this formation could provide added structural stability to the tape.