What keeps sandcastles standing?

D. J. Hornbaker, R. Albert, I. Albert, A.-L. Barabási and P. Schiffer
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D. J. Hornbaker: University of Notre Dame
R. Albert: University of Notre Dame
I. Albert: University of Notre Dame
A.-L. Barabási: University of Notre Dame
P. Schiffer: University of Notre Dame

Nature, 1997, vol. 387, issue 6635, 765-765

Abstract: Abstract Any child playing on the beach knows that the physical properties of wet and dry sand are very different. Wet sand can be used to build sharp-featured sandcastles that would be unstable in dry sand. We have now quantified the effect of adding small quantities of liquid to a granular medium. Nanometre-scale layers of liquid on millimetre-scale grains dramatically increase the repose angle (the steepest stable slope that the substance can form) and allow the development of long-range correlations, or clumps.

Date: 1997
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DOI: 10.1038/42831

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