Collective behavior in a granular jet: Emergence of a liquid with zero surface-tension
Abstract
We perform the analog to the "water bell" experiment using non-cohesive granular material. When a jet of granular material, many particles wide, rebounds from a fixed cylindrical target, it deforms into a sharply-defined sheet or cone with a shape that mimics a liquid with zero surface tension. The particulate nature of granular material becomes apparent when the number of particles in the cross-section of the jet is decreased and the emerging sheets and cones broaden and gradually disintegrate into a broad spray. This experiment has its counterpart in the behavior of the quark-gluon plasma generated by collisions of gold ions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. There a high density of inter-particle collisions gives rise to collective behavior that has also been described as a liquid.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.0706.2027,
title = {Collective behavior in a granular jet: Emergence of a liquid with zero surface-tension},
author = {Xiang Cheng and German Varas and Daniel Citron and Heinrich M. Jaeger and Sidney R. Nagel},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0706.2027},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
5 pages, 4 figures