Friday, September 23, 2005

Why Floating Objects Stick Together

Cereal Science: Why Floating Objects Stick Together
(LiveScience)
Place a single Cheerio in a bowl of milk and its weight will cause the milk beneath it to dip slightly, forming a dent in the once smooth surface of the milk. A second Cheerio placed into the bowl will form its own dent on the surface of the milk, and if the two Cheerios drift close enough to each other, they will appear to “fall into” one another, as if pulled together by an attractive force.

Cheerios near the edge of the bowl float upwards along the curve of the meniscus to look like they’re clinging the edge of the bowl.

Ah, so that explains the ending of Titanic. Sssscience!

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