Measuring natural forces with 3D images

Shayne Jacopian for redOrbit.com – @ShayneJacopian

Have you ever wondered why, unlike Chuck Norris, you can’t run on water or swim through land? Have you ever wondered why some things, like sand or powdery dirt, can act like both—why it slips through your fingers like a liquid, but supports your body weight like a solid without allowing you to sink?

If the answer is no, you’re not alone. We haven’t really thought about it, either.

Thankfully, Duke University researchers did, and to aid in answering that question that we didn’t know we wanted to know the answer to (but we do now), they developed a method for measuring the forces in granular materials like sand, soil, and snow when put under pressure.

Using advanced instruments and computer algorithms, the researchers were able to peer inside the spaces between small bits of matter and render the measured forces in cool 3D images.

[STORY: Mt. Everest avalanche claims at least 12 lives in peak's deadliest avalanche]

This technology also allows us to get a better understanding of natural phenomena like earthquakes, as well as the forces behind jams in mechanical equipment.

“This gives us hope of understanding what happens in disasters like a landslide, when packed soil and rocks on a mountain become loose and slide down,” study co-author Brodu said. “First it acts like a solid, and then for reasons physicists don’t completely understand, all of a sudden it destabilizes and starts to flow like a liquid. This transition from solid to liquid can only be understood if you know what’s going on inside the soil.”

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2015-03-d-imaging-reveals-hidden-clogs.html#jCp

How exactly did they do it?

With a bunch of hydrogel beads, a big Plexiglass box, some lasers, some cameras, and some cool imaging software to turn all the data into 3D images. Measuring the deformations in each of the beads as they were squeezed together, the researchers could calculate the forces in between them, giving them new insight into how things like quicksand and avalanches work.

[STORY: Earth's gravity altered by 2011 Japanese earthquake]

Ain’t that somethin’?

To (kind of) illustrate granular material under pressure, here’s a pug navigating a ball pit for his first time.

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Source: http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/1113348343/measuring-natural-forces-with-3d-images-030815/