Mythbusters Busted!

Duct tape has moved into prime time recently, thanks to some shows on the popular television program Mythbusters.   The Mythbusters are testing the limits of duct tape strength by doing things like taping a car to a pole (who hasn’t wanted to do that at least once?) .

Their most recent adventure is building a duct tape bridge, a potentially death defying project.  The episode aired May 12 and you can watch it online.

While it’s unlikely that any viewer would actually build a duct tape bridge fifty feet up in  the air (it took over 200 rolls of tape), this high profile promotion of the strength of duct tape might lead someone to take on a less challenging but possibly just as dangerous project.

One of the many things that the show fails to point out is that there are many different strengths of duct tape and some of the tapes most easily obtained are the ones with the least strength (and the lowest cost).  Failure to understand what these specifications related to strength mean could make a project like one you see on television turn out with very different results if you do it yourself with the wrong tape.

As long time sellers of duct tape (25 years and counting), we are always happy to see this lowly product get good publicity.  We don’t, however, believe that all publicity is good publicity.  It’s one thing to make a prom dress from duct tape and quote another to trust your safety to a product you know only generically as “duct tape”.

This Mythbusters episode has generated some interesting discussion in the physics community (real science!) about duct tape.  If you’re interested in following up, click here.

If you’re interested in the different specifications that are used to measure and compare duct tapes, take a look at this.