Researchers seek to understand the complexity of crumpled paper balls
Tuesday, August 23, 2011 - 09:30
in Physics & Chemistry
(PhysOrg.com) -- Sometimes the simplest of things become complicated and complex when looked at more closely. Gravity is but one example. Another is the mechanics involved in creating a crumpled ball from a single sheet of paper. Why does it end up shaped the way it does, despite the fact that it is created in such a random fashion? And why does it become stronger? Two physicists from the University of Massachusetts , Amherst, Narayan Menon and Anne Dominique Cambou have been looking at such questions and have published their findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.