We describe two sets of experiments, one to characterize energy dissipation phenomena and one to characterize fluctuations in 3D slowly sheared granular material. The first experiment consists of a collider in which spheres roll down a slope and collide on a smooth flat surface. We analyze high speed video from these experiments to obtain collision rates, energies, etc. The second experment consists of spheres confined in an annular geometry which are subject to slow shearing. Data for the stress show strong fluctuations in time. These fluctuations show a kind of rate invariance, and have distributions which are approximately exponential for large stresses.
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