Why is packing tape nearly impossible to tear when intact, but easily shreds if you cut the slightest nick into it?
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The back of the tape is plastic, which is a polymer. Polymers are long chains of molecules. They are woven together to make a tape and an adhesive is put on one side. It’s like a flat rope, but with millions more strands that are each a lot shorter.
If a rope has a nick, in it, it will eventually fray and snap. The same thing happens with tape. Every part near the nick is put under more stress because there is less rope to support it. As the nick grows, the stress of each strand increases making it easier and easier to break.
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