Sand Found to Flow Like Water

Low levels of surface tension cause water-like droplet formation in flows of dry granular materials. In essence, the sand flows like water. Credit: Helge F. Gruetjen, John R. Royer, Scott R. Waitukaitis, and Heinrich M. Jaeger, The University of Chicago

From Live Science:

When poured, sand behaves much like water to form water-like droplets, scientists have discovered.

The finding could be important to a wide range of industries that use "fluidized" dry particles for oil refining, plastics manufacturing and the drug industry, the researchers say.

Researchers previously thought dry particles lacked sufficient surface tension to form droplets like ordinary liquids. But physicists from the Materials Research Science and Engineering Center at the University of Chicago, led by professor Heinrich M. Jaeger, used high-speed photography to measure minute levels of surface tension and detect droplet formation in flows of dry granular materials.

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