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arXiv · 0706.2027

Collective behavior in a granular jet: Emergence of a liquid with zero surface-tension

Xiang Cheng·German Varas·Daniel Citron·Heinrich M. Jaeger·Sidney R. Nagel
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Abstract

We perform the analog to the "water bell" experiment using non-cohesive granular material. When a jet of granular material, many particles wide, rebounds from a fixed cylindrical target, it deforms into a sharply-defined sheet or cone with a shape that mimics a liquid with zero surface tension. The particulate nature of granular material becomes apparent when the number of particles in the cross-section of the jet is decreased and the emerging sheets and cones broaden and gradually disintegrate into a broad spray. This experiment has its counterpart in the behavior of the quark-gluon plasma generated by collisions of gold ions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. There a high density of inter-particle collisions gives rise to collective behavior that has also been described as a liquid.

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Xiang Cheng, German Varas, Daniel Citron, Heinrich M. Jaeger, Sidney R. Nagel. 2007-06-14. Collective behavior in a granular jet: Emergence of a liquid with zero surface-tension. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.99.188001

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