Why is packing tape nearly impossible to tear when intact, but easily shreds if you cut the slightest nick into it?
In: 6079
I imagine it like this…
It primarily has to do with the force that’s tearing the tape apart and the area that this force it applied to. Let’s say you unroll some inches of tape and now your grip that tape where you want it to separate and tear at it. You will probably have an inch of tape between your hands or fingers. Imagine you tried to cut that same tape with a knife with a 1-inch-wide blade. It would be more than blunt and even if you really hacked at the tape you wouldn’t get very far. The amount of force per inch wouldn’t be very high since it gets distributed evenly across the inch of tape.
Now, if you have a stall nick in your tape it is the equivalent of having a very, very sharp knife with which you have a go at the tape. It is such a pinpoint of stress that the amount of force per inch is off the charts. And that’s why you can separate it from there.
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