Physics Of Food
Amit Sharma
| 20-03-2024
· Food Team
Spaghetti, also known as fettuccine, has its origins in Ancient Rome and later spread throughout Europe. The original spaghetti was crafted from durum wheat, known for its high density, protein, and gluten content.
Despite its seemingly delicate appearance, attempting to fold a piece of spaghetti in half is nearly impossible.
If you happen to have spaghetti nearby, try a simple test. Attempt to fold a piece of spaghetti in half without pinching it with your fingers. After the experiment, you'll discover that regardless of your efforts, the spaghetti consistently breaks into three or more pieces, making it impossible to snap it into two halves. Why is this so?
Renowned physicist Feynman, who did not believe in the impossible, spent a night trying to fold spaghetti. The "tenacious" spaghetti, however, refused to comply, leaving Feynman puzzled. This challenging problem led to various scientific attempts, all of which failed. Consequently, this perplexing experiment became known as "Feynman's kitchen experiment."
Did a single piece of spaghetti stump the scientific community? It wasn't until 2005 that Feynman's Kitchen Experiment was cracked. Scientists derived two key laws from the experiment: the "bounce-back effect" and the "bending waves."
Scientists discovered that when people attempt to bend a long, slender rod evenly from both ends, the rod breaks from the middle, where the force is heaviest. The initial break triggers the "bounce-back effect" and "bending waves," ensuring that the final rod always breaks into three or more pieces, rather than snapping evenly in half.
While solving the mystery of why spaghetti can't be snapped in half brought relief, scientists faced a new challenge: how to actually snap a piece of spaghetti. To unravel this, researcher Heisser and project partner Edgar Gridello constructed a machine to twist and bend the pasta uniformly.
The device, equipped with clamps at both ends to hold the spaghetti, could be controlled in the direction of rotation. A high-speed camera recorded the breaking process at up to one million frames per second. After numerous experiments, researchers found that by applying the "bounce-back effect" as a foundation and adding torsion force, the number of spaghetti breaks could be increased by up to 10 million.
The ultimate finding showed that if you twist a 25-centimeter-long spaghetti 270 degrees and then fold it in half, it can actually break in half. This intricate process shed light on the physics behind spaghetti breaking and showcased the persistence of scientists in overcoming challenging mysteries.