Friday, October 03, 2003
Why does a cookie crumble?
As a doctoral student myself, it is refreshing to read about fellow Ph.D. types making significant contributions to our understanding of the world and its processes. Qasim Saleem and his colleagues, at Loughborough University, took hi-falutin physics to the world of cookies to explain why the cookie crumbles.
Saleem and his colleagues closely monitored the surface of cookies as they cooled to room temperature. Using a laser beam, the students followed the tiny deformations that evolve as the cookie picks up moisture around the rim, which causes the biscuit to expand, while loss of moisture at the center causes it to contract. The resulting strains can pull the biscuit apart, or leave it more vulnerable to breakage before purchase.
Well, that's one less problem to worry about. Now, if only someone could explain which way the cookie crumbles. Any takers?
Saleem and his colleagues closely monitored the surface of cookies as they cooled to room temperature. Using a laser beam, the students followed the tiny deformations that evolve as the cookie picks up moisture around the rim, which causes the biscuit to expand, while loss of moisture at the center causes it to contract. The resulting strains can pull the biscuit apart, or leave it more vulnerable to breakage before purchase.
Well, that's one less problem to worry about. Now, if only someone could explain which way the cookie crumbles. Any takers?
