biology

Sellotape

Sellotape is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Sellotape rather than just read about it. In short: Sellotape () is a British brand of transparent, cellulose-based, pressure-sensitive adhesive tape. Founded in the 1930s, it is the leading brand in the United Kingdom and is generally used for joining, sealing, attaching, and mending.

Key takeaways

Sellotape belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Sellotape to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Sellotape from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Sellotape () is a British brand of transparent, cellulose-based, pressure-sensitive adhesive tape. Founded in the 1930s, it is the leading brand in the United Kingdom and is generally used for joining, sealing, attaching, and mending. Similar to how the brand name Scotch Tape came to be used in Canada and the United States when referring to any brand of clear adhesive tape, Sellotape has become a genericised trademark in the United Kingdom and a number of other countries where it is sold.

History Sellotape was originally manufactured by Colin Kinninmonth and George Grey in the Acton area of London. The name was derived from Cellophane, at that time a trademarked name, with the "C" changed to "S" so the new name could be trademarked. It was made at a factory in Borehamwood from 1930 to about 1950, when it moved to Welwyn Garden City. The range of tapes available in the 1950s and 1960s was immense compared with what is available today, including RBT (reinforced banding tape), metallic tapes, and a tape used for repairing PCBs. E.S. & A. Robinson were originally a packaging and paper products manufacturing company. From the 1960s to 1980s, the Sellotape company was part of Dickinson Robinson Group, a packaging and paper conglomerate. Sellotape Industrial was bought by Scapa Group plc in 1997, and the Sellotape company was bought by Henkel Consumer Adhesives in 2002. The company's products continue to be manufactured at a factory in Dunstable, though the company itself is headquartered in Winsford.

Products The Sellotape brand now covers a variety of tape products, and the word is frequently used to refer to other adhesive tapes in many countries due to its market exposure. As an example of a genericized trademark, it gained an entry in the Oxford English Dictionary in 1980.

Use The tape can be used to repair tears in paper, or to attach pieces of paper or cardboard together for modelling. On fragile paper surfaces the tape can only be used once, as removing it will either tear the paper or remove the top layer of rough cardboard; on smooth painted surfaces it can generally be removed without leaving any trace, though sometimes the adhesive can remain on the surface after prolonged periods of time. It does not affix items to such surfaces permanently.

See also Adhesive tape Duct tape List of adhesive tapes Masking tape Scotch tape

References

External links Official website

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Sellotape

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Sellotape claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Sellotape before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Sellotape ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Sellotape

In research: Sellotape appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Sellotape in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Sellotape is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Adhesive tape, Brand name materials, Brands that became generic, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Sellotape outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Sellotape in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Sellotape means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Sellotape out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Sellotape in simple terms?

Why does Sellotape matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Sellotape?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Sellotape.