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High-speed tracking of rupture and clustering in freely falling granular streams

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  • John R. Royer

    (The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA)

  • Daniel J. Evans

    (The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA)

  • Loreto Oyarte

    (The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA)

  • Qiti Guo

    (The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA)

  • Eliot Kapit

    (The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA)

  • Matthias E. Möbius

    (The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA
    Present address: School of Physics, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.)

  • Scott R. Waitukaitis

    (The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA)

  • Heinrich M. Jaeger

    (The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA)

Abstract

Caught on camera A free-falling stream of liquid quickly breaks into droplets because of surface tension, a result of the attraction between molecules. Surprisingly, a similar effect can occur in a falling stream of a granular material such as sand. Surface tension is not an obvious presence in such flows, and until now the clustering mechanism involved had not been fully resolved. A study of the break up and rupture of falling streams of glass and copper grains, using a high-speed camera falling alongside the granular stream, now shows that tiny cohesive forces between the individual grains are responsible, corresponding to a granular surface tension some 100,000 times weaker than that of ordinary liquids. While the droplet shapes resemble those predicted for nanoscale liquid jets, current theoretical frameworks cannot adequately explain the results.

Suggested Citation

  • John R. Royer & Daniel J. Evans & Loreto Oyarte & Qiti Guo & Eliot Kapit & Matthias E. Möbius & Scott R. Waitukaitis & Heinrich M. Jaeger, 2009. "High-speed tracking of rupture and clustering in freely falling granular streams," Nature, Nature, vol. 459(7250), pages 1110-1113, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:459:y:2009:i:7250:d:10.1038_nature08115
    DOI: 10.1038/nature08115
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    Cited by:

    1. Sánchez, R. & Díaz-Leyva, P., 2018. "Self-assembly and speed distributions of active granular particles," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 499(C), pages 11-19.

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