Researchers Discover That Sand Behaves Like Water 192
Posted
by
Soulskill
from the not-in-your-stomach dept.
from the not-in-your-stomach dept.
Xeger writes "University of Chicago researchers have found that streams of sand can behave in a similar manner to liquids, forming water-like droplets when poured from a funnel. To obtain these results, they dropped their expensive high-speed camera from a height of several meters and observed the sand forming into droplets — something that shouldn't happen without surface tension. These findings suggest that conventional engineering wisdom about sand, dirt and other grainy materials needs to be rethought, and that it might be possible to apply fluid dynamics to some solids problems."
Lol (Score:2, Funny)
Quicksand discovered !!!
Water on Mars? (Score:3, Funny)
The finer the sand the more it acts like this, that's your "water on mars" right there.
News at 10 (Score:3, Funny)
The Falling Sand Game (Score:4, Funny)
Huh. /Someone/ has been playing too much of that nifty little toy The Falling Sand Game [fallingsandgame.com] and calling it research.
Re:They dropped their expensive camera? (Score:5, Funny)
Besides that, there is also the problem of the greater weight of the camera causing it to fall faster than the lighter grains of sand. Ideally, you'd want to observe the sand in as stationary and synchronized a manner as possible. However, if the camera is moving relative to the sand, it would be difficult to monitor any particular clump of falling sand.
Yawn (Score:4, Funny)
(Edit: Please note phone is off, due to slashdotting)
Re:It's the air. (Score:3, Funny)
That may have been the only time I've seen Nascar related to anything remotely intelligent. I applaud you sir.
Re:Meh... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Knudsden number (Score:2, Funny)
They tend to be a bit unpredictable, because when they slump, it can be very hard to get them going again, which is what makes them unpredictable.
This is my favorite sentence ever. The infinite loop of causation without any real explanation of cause is just totally brilliant.
Re:Mars (Score:1, Funny)
No, it wouldn't and don't call me Shirley.