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

John R. Royer (), Daniel J. Evans, Loreto Oyarte, Qiti Guo, Eliot Kapit, Matthias E. Möbius, Scott R. Waitukaitis and Heinrich M. Jaeger
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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
Scott R. Waitukaitis: The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA
Heinrich M. Jaeger: The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA

Nature, 2009, vol. 459, issue 7250, 1110-1113

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.

Date: 2009
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DOI: 10.1038/nature08115

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