Team explains 'the wallpaper problem'

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Pedro Reis an instructor in applied mathematics at MIT and colleagues have reported the formulation and physics behind the pattern created by adhesive tearing. In this image Reis demonstrates the way that adhesive tape tears in a triangular shape com ...
Pedro Reis, an instructor in applied mathematics at MIT, and colleagues have reported the formulation and physics behind the pattern created by adhesive tearing. In this image, Reis demonstrates the way that adhesive tape tears in a triangular shape coming a point. Photo by Donna Coveney

Frustrated by tape that won't peel off the roll in a straight line? Angry at wallpaper that refuses to tear neatly off the wall? A new study reveals why these efforts can be so aggravating. Wallpaper is not out to foil you-it's just obeying the laws of physics, according to a team of researchers from the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) in Paris, the Universidad de Santiago, Chile, and MIT.


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