Powerful x-rays made from sticky tape

Seth Putterman and colleagues from the University of California, Los Angeles used a motor to unwind a roll of sticky tape and recorded the electromagnetic emissions. Ripping the tape from its roll at 3 centimetres per second generated X-ray bursts of 15 kiloelectronvolts - each lasting one-billionth of a second, and containing over a million photons.
The researchers were able to prove the presence of the X-rays by producing pictures of their finger bones. Even peeling ordinary sticky tape can generate bursts of X-rays intense enough to produce an image of the bones in your fingers.