One of the advantages of moving a lot in childhood is the opportunity to learn fascinating bits of local history that don’t make it into the general history books.
Case in point: the above quote (“It granulates!”), attributed to a governor of Louisiana, who is credited with inventing a method of producing granulated sugar. Before that, sugar was available only in lumps, loaves, cubes, etc. To use it, it was necessary to break off a piece, and melt or dissolve it.
A little poking around reveals that the governor in question was Etienne de Bore, who must have been the first US governor of the Louisiana Territory, because his dates are given as “1803/4”.
In the ‘unresolved’ category is the question “Does the Brazil Nut Effect work in Outer Space?”. A little background: the Brazil Nut Effect is why containers of mixed nuts have the larger nuts on the top, and the smaller ones on the bottom. But it’s not known why this happens. One theory is that when the nuts are shaken, the smaller nuts slip through the spaces between the larger nuts.
But the question is, would the same effect apply in reduced gravity? If the primary force involved in the assortment is gravity (which would determine what direction the smaller nuts would go), then the effect would be less in lower gravities, and might disappear entirely if the gravity became too low. But that’s not the only suggested mechanism. So it would be worthwhile to make the attempt, just to see if it does happen. And if the proposal seems pointless, it’s worth mentioning that the ‘Brazil Nut Effect’ applies not only to nuts, but perhaps to things like asteroids. So it may be relevant to such things as asteroid mining.
If any such studies have been done, however, I find no reports of results. I did find at least one proposal, but I didn’t find any answers. And apparently, the actual mechanism remains a mystery, It’s probably a combination of factors, but it’s not clear which, and in what ratios. And then there’s the question of the ‘reverse Brazil Nut Effect’, which seems to have something to do with liquids.
I should probably keep checking back on this one.
treraia 