In baking, there’s a point when wet and dry ingredients get combined to form the batter (or dough) that eventually becomes a tasty treat. Experienced bakers know that the ratio Keep reading
Tag: granular material
“Haut”
In Susi Sie’s “Haut” the camera seems to fly over ever-shifting landscapes. In reality, these are macro images, created (I think) by dyes and patterns atop a water bath. But Keep reading
Eroding Grains
When a spacecraft comes in for a landing (or a tag similar to what OSIRIS-REx did), there’s a turbulent jet that points straight into a bed of particles. How those Keep reading
A Levitated Boil
When acoustically levitated, objects tend to clump together and move like a single, large solid. But researchers found more fluid-like states for their levitated particles when the particles were smaller. Keep reading
Encapsulating Drops
Sometimes a droplet needs a little protection while it’s traveling to its destination. When that’s the case, we often try to encapsulate it in a layer of material that won’t Keep reading
Slow to Relax
Oobleck is a decidedly weird substance. Made from a dense suspension of cornstarch in water, oobleck is known for its mix of liquid-like and solid-like properties, depending on the force Keep reading
Rotating Waves of Grains
Rotating drums are a popular way to explore granular dynamics. Here, researchers fill a cylinder (seen below) with heavy grains and a low-viscosity fluid, then rotate the mixture about a Keep reading
How Dunes Form
On its face, the idea that sand and wind can come together to form massive mountainous dunes seems bizarre. But dunes — and their smaller cousins, ripples — are everywhere, Keep reading
Rifts in Rafts
A raft of particles floating on water has some natural cohesion from particle attraction and capillary action. But when the raft is pulled apart, what happens? Does it break cleanly Keep reading
Stably Jammed
Granular materials like sand, gravel, and medications can become a rigid mass when squeezed or sheared. Even with a relatively loose packing, these materials can jam together to act like Keep reading