Physics Colloquium, April 16, 2002

Physics at the Breakfast Table

Sidney Nagel

University of Chicago

Many complex phenomena are so familiar that we forget to ask whether or not they are understood. In this lecture, I will discuss several familiar cases of effects that are so ubiquitous that we hardly realize that they defy our normal intuition about why they occur. The examples of poorly understood classical physics that I will choose can all be viewed at a breakfast table: the anomalous flow of granular material, the long messy tendrils left by honey spooned from one dish to another and the pesky rings deposited by spilled coffee on a table after the liquid evaporates. These are all non-linear hydrodynamic phenomena which not only are of technological importance but can also lead the inquisitive into new realms of physics.

3.30 p.m., Smith Laboratory, Room 1005

Refreshments served in Smith 1094 at 3:00 p.m.