Sticky Tape Stores Memories Like a Combination Lock, Without Electricity
Ben Sullivan
Pull a strip of ordinary Scotch tape partway off a surface and set it back down. Nothing remarkable seems to happen. The tape lies flat, a little crinkled perhaps, the adhesive re-bonding to whatever substrate you peeled it from. But look closely, at the molecular level of the adhesive layer, and something has been written there: a record. A memory of exactly how far you pulled.
Peel it again, a shorter distance this time, and a second memory joins the first. Do it a third time, shorter still...