A Great and Enduring Mystery Solved

For years boffins have been baffled by the phenomenon but at last we have the answer.
Why are brazil nuts always at the top of the can?

originally posted by: Phage
For years boffins have been baffled by the phenomenon but at last we have the answer.
Why are brazil nuts always at the top of the can?

Wait.

I always thought it was because those were put in the cans last ? 😧

a reply to: Phage

Cool,

I wonder how many millions the taxpayer grant was for that one.

a reply to: infolurker

Probably not a lot, specifically. The research was carried out by the University of Manchester.

It actually has some practical applications. Not the nuts part so much as the technology used to study them. The University might turn a profit from it.

a reply to: Phage

Have you ever been in a ball pool?

a reply to: Wide-Eyes

Lots of time. Never got any good at the game though.

Oh. Wait. You didn't say pool hall. Never mind

a reply to: Phage

You weren't that far off the mark.

The balls sink.

a reply to: Wide-Eyes

Speak for yourself.

Oh, you said "sink". Never mind.

a reply to: Phage

Brazil nuts are the worst out of any nut mix IMO.

Pecans, walnuts, heck, even unshelled pistachios are way better in both the flavor and the texture.

And I admit it could be a preference and/or even a genetic thing (like Cilantro - I really don't like the cilantro flavor since it tastes like soap to me but some people love it).

That being said, I've never met anyone who volunteered the fact that they love Brazil nuts (conversely, peanuts, cashews, pecans,pistachios have all had some avid fans)

Just get a can of cashews. That way you don't have these horrible choices to make.

originally posted by: Phage
a reply to: Wide-Eyes

Speak for yourself.

Oh, you said "sink". Never mind.

Must have been a typo.

I meant to say, "the balls fink".

They never go where you expect them to.

a reply to: schuyler

Yum. 😋

a reply to: Phage

Why do pingpong balls rise above sunflower seeds in a bucket?
Same principle. Smaller objects sink in dry mix.
What a stupid study with such an obvious answer.
How much money was spent on this?

I like Brazil nuts. Always have. But what about macadamia nuts? Now there's a nut for you. Why don't we get our resident expert on everything to answer about them. Phage?

originally posted by: Phage
For years boffins have been baffled by the phenomenon but at last we have the answer.
Why are brazil nuts always at the top of the can?

I'm trying to decide if it's worth trying to use a different browser to play the video or not, but I can read the article just fine.

I didn't see any mention of density, so I searched for that and found this older article which describes the density effect on different particle size mixing as somewhat non-intuitive:

The Brazil Nut Effect Is More Complicated Than You Think

And as Esther Inglis-Arkell wrote at io9 several years ago:

If the large particles are much less dense than their surrounding particles, they rise to the top and stay. If they are much denser than their surrounding particles – they also rise to the top and stay. Those that have a small difference in density from the other particles tend to remain mixed. And all this density dependence stops if the particles are in a vacuum. It seems that the simple course that a Brazil nut takes through life is dependent not only on its surrounding nuts, and on its density, but on air pressure as well.

It is possible to reverse this effect by using a conical container, however. And as Sharp says, it’s an advantage if your snack food of choice happens to be popcorn. Shaking the bowl will cause the hard kernels to sink to the bottom, leaving the fluffy white goodness on top.

At least the popcorn density affects the popcorn kernels the way I expect, but I wouldn't have expected the same density larger particles to stay where they are, while either higher or lower density larger particles would rise.

And now based on the article you posted, apparently there's another variable not mentioned in the older article, the particle shape is apparently a factor.

Interesting!

originally posted by: FamCore
a reply to: Phage

Brazil nuts are the worst out of any nut mix IMO.

Pecans, walnuts, heck, even unshelled pistachios are way better in both the flavor and the texture.

And I admit it could be a preference and/or even a genetic thing (like Cilantro - I really don't like the cilantro flavor since it tastes like soap to me but some people love it).

That being said, I've never met anyone who volunteered the fact that they love Brazil nuts (conversely, peanuts, cashews, pecans,pistachios have all had some avid fans)

Buy a pack and then roast them. Delicious, and cheaper than other nuts.

a reply to: FamCore

Hey now FC

Brazil nuts have about one daily allowance of selenium each, and as such, are a great immune system booster!

originally posted by: Tucket
Buy a pack and then roast them. Delicious, and cheaper than other nuts.

Brazil nuts are good for you if you don't eat more than two a day. Depending on your body weight and other factors, if you eat too many a day you could get selenium toxicity symptoms like hair loss, brittle nails, fatigue, nausea, rash, diarrhea, runny nose, cough and nerve pain. My mother likes them, and her doctor said they are good as long as she doesn't eat too many per day. He recommended no more than two a day for her.

a reply to: Phage

WOW. I worked this out when I was a kid, last century, like 40+ years ago. Get a cereal box with a plastic toy in it, shake the sh!t out of it and the toy is always at the top of the box when you open it.

Yeah, thought this was common knowledge, but then again this wouldn't be the first or last time time and effort was wasted on something that was common sense or already modelled.

It's called granular convection.