[tt] the physics arXiv blog

[Eugen Leitl]

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From: the physics arXiv blog <howdy at arxivblog.com>
Date: Tue, 27 May 2008 15:42:53 -0500 (CDT)
To: eugen at leitl.org
Subject: the physics arXiv blog
Reply-To: the physics arXiv blog <howdy at arxivblog.com>


[1]the physics arXiv blog

   [2]The surprisingly rich physics of peeling paper

   Posted: 27 May 2008 12:47 AM CDT

   [3]Peeling paper 

   Take a standard piece of copier paper (80 g/m^2) and carefully peel it
   into two sheets. Listen out for the way it tears  and watch how fast
   the peel line creeps.

   What you'll see and hear is a stick-slip phenomenon in which the creep
   velocity varies over many orders of magnitude, with small movements of
   the peel line interspersed with huge avalanches.

   So say Jari Rosti and pals at the Helsinki University of Technology in
   Finland, who have meticulously measured the way paper peels and
   developed statistical models to better understand what's going on
   (those long winter evenings in Finland must fly by).

   Why bother? It turns out that  the physics of peeling paper almost
   exactly mimics the stick-slip movement of tectonic plates, right down
   to the statistics of the time between "quakes" and the correlations
   between released energy and aftershock activity.

   It's tempting to imagine that peeling paper could  therefore be used
   as a simple model in which to study earthquake statistics. Sadly no.
   Rosti and co admit there are some subtle but surprising differences
   between the two systems which would make that impossible.

   But it does raise questions about how such subtle differences arise in
   systems that are otherwise statistically so similar. Rosti hopes
   future work will reveal all. And with the Finish winter coming all too
   soon after summer, they should have plenty of time to get peeling.

   Ref: [4]arxiv.org/abs/0805.3284: Line creep in paper peeling

   [5][arXivblog?i=R2jSKn] 
   [6][arXivblog?i=KaNuJH] [7][arXivblog?i=49vExH]
   [8][arXivblog?i=jjEcah] [9][arXivblog?i=9DVlsH]
   [10][arXivblog?i=Rml3uh] [11][arXivblog?i=wBq3YH]
   [12][arXivblog?i=D9rjch] [13][arXivblog?i=lyN9CH] 
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References

   1. http://arxivblog.com/
   2. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/arXivblog/~3/298868307/
   3. http://arxivblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/peeling-paper.jpg
   4. http://arxiv.org/abs/0805.3284
   5. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/arXivblog?a=R2jSKn
   6. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/arXivblog?a=KaNuJH
   7. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/arXivblog?a=49vExH
   8. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/arXivblog?a=jjEcah
   9. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/arXivblog?a=9DVlsH
  10. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/arXivblog?a=Rml3uh
  11. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/arXivblog?a=wBq3YH
  12. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/arXivblog?a=D9rjch
  13. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/arXivblog?a=lyN9CH
  14. http://arxivblog.com/
  15. http://www.feedburner.com/fb/a/emailunsub?id=8632699&key=kesJ612ZsV
  16. http://feeds.feedburner.com/arXivblog
  17. http://feeds.feedburner.com/arXivblog

----- End forwarded message -----
-- 
Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://leitl.org">leitl</a> http://leitl.org
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