Tape in space?

Great question!

One theory re how an adhesive tape works is that it functions as thousands of microscopic suction cups. In that case, you wouldn't expect it to work in a vacuum.

I believe they have observed geckos walking upside down in very low pressure, as a means of determining if the suction cup effect was at play. They decided, in one study, that no, it was not suction, it was van der waal attraction.

I like playing around with that soft vinyl tape the has no adhesive but which sticks securely to smooth surfaces. If the effect were simple static cling, then you'd expect it to "wear off" fairly soon, and you'd also expect to see repulsion at times. But neither of those things happen.

This article talks a little about such things.

It certainly will, cause it depends on the glue rather than in atmospheric pressure.

Advise:

Don't ask Vermin cause he has no clue, and has been saying the opposite!

Shouldn't we warn Vermin? He must be asleep.

There are some nice threads on "Duct tape in space"

Just goolge this.

Yes, it does. We vacuum chamber polyurethanes to removes gases before we cast them and use either masking or duct tape to label the various containers during the process.

Yes, many adhesives are OK in vacuum. A previous post mentioned a discussion on duct tape in space that somewhat covered this.

I've used mainly kapton tape when testing space hardware in a hard vacuum. Some more common tapes like duct tape may outgas considerably (partial pressure - things boil), and are therefore not used when cleanliness of a chamber is a concern. If they do outgas, they probably lose some adherence. For example, some oil-based lubricants in space will basically turn into asphalt as things boil off. Here is a link to NASA's outgassing standards. If you want to look up a specific tape or adhesive, this is a good place to start.

http://outgassing.nasa.gov/

I don't think vaccum is the problem in space. Temp is. Close to 0K when you're away from the sun and don't know how hot when you're facing it.

Pineapple

Yes, but why not just replace the vacuum bag with a new one rather than trying to fix it?

Groan.