Scotch tape was invented in 1930 by a banjo-playing 3M engineer named Richard Drew. It was the world's first transparent adhesive tape.
Since then, people have come up with unusual and creative uses for Scotch tape. Some of them are just mind-blowing!
Scotch tape can be used to make frosted glass transparent. The tape fills in the tiny imperfections on the glass' surface. These imperfections refract passing light in all directions, but when the tape fills in the imperfections, it allows the light to pass through more or less in a straight line. If the glass is frosted on both sides, both sides will require tape to render it see-through.
Under a vacuum, Scotch tape will emit enough hard x-rays to image the bones in your finger! The tape even served as an anti-corrosive shield on the Goodyear blimp. It can cover cracks in the soft shells of fertilized eggs, allowing them to still hatch.
In Bangkok, Thailand, a particularly thrifty landlord used Scotch tape to repair cracks in the ceilings of tenants' apartments. Once it was even used to repair a 1946 Taylorcraft airplane! The plane was disabled after cows munched the resin-coated fabric off the plane's rudder section. The owner taped the remaining fabric over the holey section and flew away.
