Towers grow by drips and drops

摘要

Reminiscent of children building castles at the beach by dripping wet sand from their fist, researchers in Massachusetts have created their own slender towers by dripping a suspension of glass beads in a water-glycerine mixture over a granular surface. Julien Chopin and Arshad Kudrolli at Clark University in Worcester used a highspeed camera to reveal the mechanics of the surprisingly cohesive structures (pictured).