Re: Physics of Settling?


Andy Resnick wrote:

You have stumbled into an extremely active area of current research-
granular media, colloids, condensed matter, all kinds of things. It's
all really exciting, and covers topics like photonic bandgap materials,
phase transitions and critical points, glass dynamics, and foundations
of hydrodynamics.

Basically, what you have is a model system- an experimental system that
can be used to model other systems in a very generic way. I can't be
more specific than that unless I know more about your comfort level.

Thanks, Andrew. I'd like to know a little more.

The immediate goal is to make plausible the "heterogeneous accretion"
theory of the formation of the Earth. If the post big bang dust cloud
was reasonably well-mixed, why does the Earth have a well-defined iron
core and a silicate crust? But that's my 9th grade science class, and
I'll figure out a demo eventually.

I'm really interested in the behavior of these silly plastic spheres in
my failed demo, and reading about some less-silly examples is exactly
where I'd like to go. Most applied math is pretty familiar, but I'd
need primer materials on the three specific areas you mention in order
to get a handle on the terminology and principles.

Thanks for your time!

--Cliff

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