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Little ones can slip through the cracks in the big ones, innit
The Brazil Nut Effect is what you are observing also known as Granular Convection.
Thanks ! This is it.
Say it with me now: gravity.
TIL that gravity pulls harder on crumbs with smaller mass than full chips!
If the crumbs get small enough, they form a black hole.
i've seen an explanation of 'avalanche vs skier' physics by comparing it to a box of cereal. basically the smaller pieces slip through gaps between bigger ones and end up at the bottom.
that's why inflatable backpacks got invented. to make the skier as big as possible to avoid getting buried.
It's known as the 'Brazil nut effect', technically apparently Granular Convection: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granular_convection It's apparently not fully explained, but theories suggest things like buoyancy, or that larger particles are blocked from sinking by smaller particles, which on the other hand can slip below the larger ones.
Picture what the inside of the bag would look like with the small stuff near the top. There'd be all this open space below it that it could fit into. In theory it could sit there as long as it isn't agitated, but if the bag is jostled then gravity is going to do its thing pretty quickly.
I tend to think about it as density. Smaller chunks can be more tightly packed together, and are therfore more dense. As long as there is a way for the stuff to flow (i.e. shaking the bag), gravity will pull denser stuff to the bottom.
Isn’t the answer just gravity? Or am I missing something here. I never had a higher education.
Kinda. Gravity is acting equally on all the chips but the smaller the chip the more gaps they are small enough to pass through, so the smallest chips end up at the bottom, collectively holding up the bigger chips.
The larger chips are more buoyant
this post was submitted on 27 Jan 2024
21 points (100.0% liked)
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