Researchers at MIT created a 3D-printed system to develop a greater understanding of the science behind what occurs to the cream filling once you cut up the 2 sides of an Oreo cookie. Their system, the Oreometer, makes use of rubber bands and cash to manage the torque utilized to every aspect as a cookie is twisted aside. Adding pennies to 1 aspect rotates one of many two chambers and separates the Oreo.
After testing numerous kinds of Oreos, the researchers added scientific weight to one thing that almost each American over the age of three already is aware of: the cream filling normally sticks to 1 aspect, even with Double and Mega Stuf varieties. Twisting pace mattered, in response to the staff — when you attempt to do it rapidly, it might take extra pressure and stress to separate a cookie. Curiously, the scientists discovered that the cream solely separated extra evenly when testing older packing containers of cookies.
The researchers suspect the Oreo manufacturing course of is one purpose for the phenomenon. “Videos of the manufacturing process show that they put the first wafer down, then dispense a ball of cream onto that wafer before putting the second wafer on top,” Crystal Owens, an MIT mechanical engineering PhD candidate, stated. “Apparently that little time delay may make the cream stick better to the first wafer.”
The staff printed a paper on their analysis within the journal Physics of Fluids. As Gizmodo notes, they carried out the experiment as an train in rheology, which is the research of how matter flows.
The researchers decided that, primarily based on how the filling responded to emphasize, it ought to be labeled as “mushy” as an alternative of brittle, powerful or rubbery. They additionally discovered that the cream’s failure stress — the pressure per space wanted to deform the filling or make it move — is across the identical as mozzarella cheese and double that of peanut butter and cream cheese.
There could possibly be another sensible advantages of the analysis. “My 3D printing fluids are in the same class of materials as Oreo cream,” Owens stated. “So, this new understanding can help me better design ink when I’m trying to print flexible electronics from a slurry of carbon nanotubes, because they deform in almost exactly the same way.”
In addition, Owens steered that if the within of every Oreo half had extra texture, it may need a greater grip on the cream and the filling could be extra even when a cookie’s twisted aside “As they are now, we found there’s no trick to twisting that would split the cream evenly,” Owens added.
If you’d wish to attempt the experiment your self, you may obtain the 3D printer recordsdata. Just make sure to eat a few of the separated Oreos afterward. For science.