Related papers: The "coin-through-the-rubber" trick: an elasticall…
When a coin is placed on the neck of a cold bottle, the coin will move cyclically. This is caused by the expansion of the gas inside the bottle warming up, which will cause the coin to rise when the internal pressure is large enough to…
In many interesting physical settings, such as the vulcanization of rubber, the introduction of permanent random constraints between the constituents of a homogeneous fluid can cause a phase transition to a random solid state. In this…
Invaginations are partial enclosures formed by surfaces. Typically formed by biological membranes; they abound in nature. In this paper, we consider fundamentally different structures: elastically stabilized invaginations. Focusing on…
We have found an oscillating instability of fast-running cracks in thin rubber sheets. A well-defined transition from straight to oscillating cracks occurs as the amount of biaxial strain increases. Measurements of the amplitude and…
Adhesion hysteresis can be caused by elastic instabilities that are triggered by surface roughness or chemical heterogeneity. However, the role of these instabilities in adhesion hysteresis remains poorly understood because we lack…
The torque-free motion of rigid body in gravitational field is analyzed. The coin lands on a soft surface (such as the palm of the hand) that allows no bouncing. The model assumes the coin as a rigid body with constant angular momentum…
Cavitation is a phenomenon in which bubbles form and collapse in liquids due to pressure or temperature changes. Even common tools like a rubber popper can be used to create cavitation at home. As a rubber popper toy slams a solid wall…
Extra-large deformations in ultra-soft elastic materials are ubiquitous, yet systematic studies and methods to understand the mechanics of such huge strains are lacking. Here we investigate this complex problem systematically with a simple…
Liquid crystal elastomers are rubber-like solids with liquid crystalline mesogens (stiff, rod-like molecules) incorporated either into the main chain or as a side chain of the polymer. These solids display a range of unusual…
The cage effect is widely accepted as the basic microscopic mechanism underlying the physics of supercooled liquids in contrast with usual liquids which are governed by molecular interactions only. In this work we implement a new toy model…
Inspired by recent experimental observations of a harmonically excited elastic foil hovering near a wall while supporting substantial weight, we develop a theoretical framework that describes the underlying physical effects. Using…
We review the recently proposed elastic approach to glass transition. This approach is based on a simple and a physically transparent idea of elastic interactions between local relaxation events in a liquid. Central to this picture is the…
The laws of chance are often subtle and deceptive. This is why games of chance work. People are convinced that they obey seemingly intuitive laws, while the underlying mathematical structure reveals a different and more complex reality.…
We study the dynamics of a bouncing coin whose motion is restricted to the two-dimensional plane. Such coin model is equivalent to the system of two equal masses connected by a rigid rod, making elastic collisions with a flat boundary. We…
A toy model is proposed which incorporates the reversible mode coupling mechanism responsible for ergodic-nonergodic transition with trivial Hamiltonian in the mode coupling theory (MCT) of structural glass transition. The model can be…
The elastic Leidenfrost effect occurs when a vaporizable soft solid is lowered onto a hot surface. Evaporative flow couples to elastic deformation, giving spontaneous bouncing or steady-state floating. The effect embodies an unexplored…
Adhesive interactions between elastic structures such as graphene sheets, carbon nanotubes, and microtubules have been shown to exhibit hysteresis due to irrecoverable energy loss associated with bond breakage, even in static…
In this work we consider bubbles that can form spontaneously when a two-dimensional (2D) crystal is transferred to a substrate with gases or liquids trapped at the crystal-substrate interface. The underlying mechanics may be described by a…
We study from a statistical physics perspective the dynamics of a bouncing ball maintained in a chaotic regime thanks to collisions with a plate experiencing an aperiodic vibration. We analyze in details the energy exchanges between the…
The cavitation of solid elastic spheres is a classical problem of continuum mechanics. Here, we study this problem within the context of "stochastic elasticity" where the constitutive parameters are characterised by probability density…