Soap bubbles are delicate and ephemeral, always a breath away from collapse due to thinning driven by gravity or evaporation. But that frailty can be countered. Adding microparticles to the Keep reading
Tag: granular material
Frozen Wind-Sculpted Sands
On the cold, wind-swept beaches of Lake Michigan, the sands sometimes turn into a landscape of miniature hoodoos. Strong winds erode the frozen sand into these shapes, which last only Keep reading
Ice and Dunes
Although dunes are usually associated with scorching climates, they can form in any desert, including in the frozen steppes of western Mongolia. This sunrise photo, taken by an astronaut aboard Keep reading
Dune Invasion
Migrating sand dunes can encounter obstacles both natural and manmade as they move. Dunes — both above ground and under water — have been known to bury roads, pipelines, and Keep reading
Outtakes
When filming, things don’t always go according to plan. Glasses break, splashes obscure your subject, and sometimes effects just don’t turn out the way you expect. But if you’re the Keep reading
Fun From the Beach
Here’s a neat bit of fluid dynamics derived from a day at the beach! Our experiment begins with well-mixed (and likely compacted) sand grains and sea water in a bottle. Keep reading
Collective Motion in Grains
Flocks of birds and schools of fish swarm in complicated collective motions, but groups of non-living components can move collectively, too. In this Lutetium Project video, we learn about grains Keep reading
Reader Question: Kinetic Sand
An inquiring reader wants to know: How does kinetic sand work to make it flow like a liquid? Thanks! – 3 Year Olds Everywhere I confess I don’t have any Keep reading
Sand Traps
Antlion larvae catch prey by digging conical pits in sand. The steep walls of the trap are near the angle of repose, the largest angle a granular material can maintain Keep reading
The Strangeness of Sand
Sand and other granular materials can flow, jam, and transmit forces in counterintuitive ways. This Lutetium Project video gives a nice overview of some of these bizarre properties. Many of Keep reading