AY Honors/Duct Tape/Answer Key

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1. List or explain the components of duct tape.

1. Plastic

2. Cloth/fabric lattice called "scrim"

3. Adhesive

Extra information:

Modern duct tape is made with any one of a variety of tightly woven fabrics to provide strength. The threads or fill yarn of the fabric may be cotton, polyester, nylon, rayon or fiberglass. The fabric is a very thin gauze called "scrim" which is laminated to a backing of low-density polyethylene (LDPE). The color of the LDPE is provided by various pigments; the usual gray color comes from powdered aluminum mixed into the LDPE.

2. Give a 3-5 minute report or create a timeline about the history and development of duct tape.

From Duct Tape Wikipedia:

"The idea for what became duct tape came from Vesta Stoudt, an ordnance-factory worker and mother of two Navy sailors, who worried that problems with ammunition box seals would cost soldiers precious time in battle. She wrote to President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1943 with the idea to seal the boxes with a fabric tape, which she had tested at her factory.[12] The letter was forwarded to the War Production Board, who put Johnson & Johnson on the job.[13] The Revolite division of Johnson & Johnson had made medical adhesive tapes from duck cloth from 1927 and a team headed by Revolite's Johnny Denoye and Johnson & Johnson's Bill Gross developed the new adhesive tape,[14] designed to be ripped by hand, not cut with scissors.

Their new unnamed product was made of thin cotton duck tape coated in waterproof polyethylene (plastic) with a layer of rubber-based gray adhesive ("Polycoat") bonded to one side.[7][15][16][17][18][19] It was easy to apply and remove, and was soon adapted to repair military equipment quickly, including vehicles and weapons.[15] This tape, colored in army-standard matte olive drab, was nicknamed "duck tape" by the soldiers.[20] Various theories have been put forward for the nickname, including the descendant relation to cotton duck fabric, the waterproof characteristics of a duck bird, and even the 1942 amphibious military vehicle DUKW which was pronounced "duck".[21]

After the war, the duck tape product was sold in hardware stores for household repairs. The Melvin A. Anderson Company of Cleveland, Ohio, acquired the rights to the tape in 1950.[16] It was commonly used in construction to wrap air ducts.[20] Following this application, the name "duct tape" came into use in the 1950s, along with tape products that were colored silvery gray like tin ductwork. Specialized heat- and cold-resistant tapes were developed for heating and air-conditioning ducts. By 1960 a St. Louis, Missouri, HVAC company, Albert Arno, Inc., trademarked the name "Ductape" for their "flame-resistant" duct tape, capable of holding together at 350–400 °F (177–204 °C).[22]

In 1971, Jack Kahl bought the Anderson firm and renamed it Manco.[16] In 1975, Kahl rebranded the duct tape made by his company. Because the previously used generic term "duck tape" had fallen out of use, he was able to trademark the brand "Duck Tape"[citation needed] and market his product complete with a yellow cartoon duck logo. Manco chose the "Duck" name as "a play on the fact that people often refer to duct tape as 'duck tape',"[23] as a marketing differentiation to stand out against other sellers of duct tape,[24] and because they wanted to represent a fun and imaginative business culture to their customers.[25] In 1979, the Duck Tape marketing plan involved sending out greeting cards with the duck branding, four times a year, to 32,000 hardware managers. This mass of communication combined with colorful, convenient packaging helped Duck Tape become popular. From a near-zero customer base Manco eventually controlled 40% of the duct tape market in the US.[17][23]

After profiting from Scotch Tape in the 1930s, 3M produced military materiel during WWII, and by 1946 had developed the first practical vinyl electrical tape.[26] By 1977, the company was selling a heat-resistant duct tape for heating ducts.[27] In the late 1990s, 3M was running a $300 million duct tape division, the US industry leader.[28] In 2004, 3M invented a transparent duct tape.[29]

According to etymologist Jan Freeman, the story that duct tape was originally called duck tape is "quack etymology" that has spread "due to the reach of the Internet and the appeal of a good story" but "remains a statement of faith, not fact." She notes that duct tape is not made from duck tape and there is no known primary-source evidence that it was originally referred to as duck tape. Her research does not show any use of the phrase "duck tape" in World War II and indicates that the earliest documented name for the adhesive product was "duct tape" in 1960. The phrase "duck tape" to refer to an adhesive product does not appear until the 1970s and isn't popularized until the 1980s, after the Duck brand became successful and after the New York Times referred to and defined the product under the name "duct tape" in 1973.[3][30]"

3. Name three uses of duct tape.

Too many to list in one place.

Mainly, fix things, build things, and connect things.

4. List at least three ways that duct tape is used in a professional setting.

Gaffer: watch the movie credits, this is the person who literally tapes down all AV cables so people 1) don't see the cords in the movies and 2) don't kill themselves tripping over wires and cords.

Electrician: use tape to cover wires and limit contact with other wires.

Motorsports: used to cover small holes in fiberglass racer's car.

- - spoiler alert ***

IT IS NOT TO BE USED ON AIR DUCTS, as commonly thought. During extreme hot and cold it becomes brittle and fails. It is against building code to use duct tape on any air ducts in most US states.

5. Outline duct tape safety rules as they relate to general duct tape usage, usage recreationally among young people, and within a craft setting.

Duct tape should NEVER be placed over nose or mouth. Suffocation is a real hazard.

Duct tape does NOT remove warts. This is a myth. Medical testing demonstrates that it doesn't work on warts.

Burning duct tape can cause some rather toxic fumes.

6. Demonstrate the ability to tear pieces of duct tape, by hand, in the following lengths without the aid of a knife, scissors, or any other cutting instrument. The tape must not get tangled up or wrinkled.

a. 15 cm (6 inches)

b. 60 cm (2 feet)

c. 150 cm (5 feet)

7. Create a toolkit with the basic items needed for duct tape crafts, including at least three colors/designs of duct tape, cutting mat, scissors, utility knife, tools for residue removal. Demonstrate the ability to use each tool.

8. Create five items from duct tape, such as:

a. Wallet or purse

b. Basket or tote

c. A wearable piece of clothing

d. Holiday decorations

e. Christmas wrapping or bows

f. Simple flower arrangement

g. Toy

h. Items of your choice

9. Build a boat that will float a 2kg (5lb) sack of flour for five minutes while preventing the flour from getting wet. You may use other materials to create a frame, but the majority of the hull should be made from duct tape.

10. Complete the following spiritual lessons on the “stickiness” of duct tape.

a. Read Daniel chapter 3 and discuss how duct tape can apply to God and the Hebrews in the story.

b. Memorize and recite Proverbs 18:24 and explain how duct tape applies to this verse.

Proverbs 18:24 New International Version (NIV)

24 One who has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

c. Discuss in a group how “sin” can stick to you.

d. Memorize and recite James 4:7 and share your ideas on how sin can get unstuck in our lives.

James 4:7 New International Version (NIV)

7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

References