Teflon Tape Secret Messages Making secret messages with polymers! email to friend
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If you are a fan of Steve Spangler’s experiments, you know that he will use any excuse to make a trip to the hardware store for a little “toolbox” science. Today we found Steve wandering down the plumbing aisle looking for just the right Teflon Tape to make some pretty cool secret messages.

Plumbers use Teflon Tape to form a water-tight seal and prevent leaking on pipes. Turns out, this plumber’s tool is also a pretty cool example of a polymer that gets lots of use in everyday situations.

Materials

Teflon Tape
Sharpie Marker
Scissors
Plastic shopping bag

Experiment
Video
Reviews

Cut a piece of Teflon Tape about 10 to 15 cm (4-6 in) long.
Write a secret message on the tape.
Now stretch the tape from top to bottom, making your message taller, not longer. Pull carefully so that you don’t tear your message.
Suddenly you can’t read your message anymore! Give the message to a friend and see if they can figure out how to make the letters their original shape again.
Just when they are about to give up, surprise them with a little science magic... Pull on the tape from end to end making the letters short again.
When you are done pulling your message will look normal again and your friends will be amazed.

How does it work?

Teflon Tape is a type of polymer called polytetrafluroethylene (PTFE). That’s a really long word for a kind of polymer that has long chains of molecules lined up side-by-side and next to each other. If you try to stretch the tape end to end before stretching it from top to bottom, you won’t be able to stretch much at all. That is because the polymers are bonded to each other very tightly, but there are lots of chains stacked on top of each other. These stacks make it possible to pull the tape from top to bottom and stretch your secret message. When the polymer chains are pulled from top to bottom they slide over one another and reduce the number of chains in a section without breaking the chains themselves. When the tape is pulled back end to end, the chains are realigned and your message is legible again.

Additional Info

What other materials are made from PTFE? Try writing a message on a plastic grocery bag. Now pull the bag from top to bottom just like the tape... does your message “disappear”? Pull the bag back from end to end. Can you read your message again?