I ate a hideous amount of popcorn yesterday while watching Babel and it made me wonder.
2007-01-29 08:00:00 · 9 answers · asked by toothybaboon 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
You're describing a phenomenon known as the Brazil Nut Effect, so named because it has been seen that when you open a can of mixed nuts, the big Brazil nuts are all on top and the peanuts are on the bottom. It sounds like a goofy name, but it's actually a pretty serious issue for manufacturers of things like cereal and nuts. And an exact explanation has not yet been found, although there are some interesting -- and fairly complicated -- theories. There are some interesting articles about it on Wikipedia and PhysicsWeb.
2007-01-29 08:22:18 · answer #1 · answered by Grizzly B 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Good for you. Ordinarily, like a pile of sand the big ones are at the bottom. But for a popcorn restricted by a bowl or bag, the bigger it is require a bigger space. Down below, is less space. Moreover, the popcorn is an odd shape, it is not a smooth round surface. There are crevices and folds where each popcorn can enmesh with another and so on to stablize themselves even at the top "defying gravity".
2007-01-29 08:07:04 · answer #2 · answered by Aldo 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
When you shake the bag, little gaps appear. The small peices are small enough to fall through these and reach the bottom where they collect. This leaves the big peices on the top. So really the big peices are not coming to the top, its the little peices which are falling to the bottom.
2007-01-29 08:07:14 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Because the biggest bits are the ones that have "popped" the most and are therefore lighter. At the bottom, you find all the hard bits of corn - which I personally quite like to crunch.
2007-01-30 01:50:27 · answer #4 · answered by Hello Dave 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The smaller bits fall through the gaps and build up providing a base which the bigger bits sit, and so on.
2007-01-29 22:46:37 · answer #5 · answered by Spanner 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The small pieces are more dense than the big pieces so they sink like a stone sinks in water.
2007-01-29 08:39:33 · answer #6 · answered by Fool 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
They don't - the little pieces (that are quite a bit more dense and have regular, smooth shapes more conducive to motion) settle out to the bottom.
2007-01-29 08:04:16 · answer #7 · answered by Richard B 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
the big pieces are lighter, the small pieces haven't 'puffed' out properly making them abit heavier.
2007-01-29 08:05:01 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
i think cause the piece are lighter then a seed...
2007-01-29 08:07:36 · answer #9 · answered by once_bitten 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋