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Pancake Physics to Cut Batter Splatter

Posted by chrisd on from the all-hail-science dept.

Anonymous Coward writes "The headline just about says it all on this one. A physics grad student in the UK has come up with the mathematical formula for how to flip a pancake and have it land correctly back in the pan. The BBC has the details."

3 of 298 comments (clear)

  1. Pancakes, crepes, flapjack... by marnanel · · Score: 5, Informative

    Americans should bear in mind that what are called "pancakes" in England are called "crepes" in America. What are called "pancakes" in America are called "Scotch pancakes" in the south of England, and "drop scones" in Scotland and the north of England. Meanwhile, "flapjacks" are a kind of oaty biscuit. Confused yet?

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    GROGGS: alive and well and living in
  2. Shrove Tuesday (why the BBC ran the story then) by WebfishUK · · Score: 5, Informative



    Not sure about other countries but last Tuesday (4th) was Shrove Tuesday in the UK when we all make pancakes. For the religious amongst you the word 'Shrove' refers to the practice of confessing of sins, then afterwards the fast of Lent could be considered a penance of faults committed. Thats why the BBC ran the story on Tuesday. However, most of us just love eating the pancakes!

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    -- "Can't sleep, clowns will eat me!"
  3. Re: In England we're real tossers by Amroarer · · Score: 5, Informative

    Well, where I come from, we don't use no spatulas to toss pancakes... (Although some more cautious people do slip them out of the pan onto a plate, then drop them back in upside down.) English pancakes are so wide and thin that a spatula's likely to just tear them. Instead you have to use the showing-off-method.

    First you make a circular movement with the pan to ensure that the pancake hasn't stuck and overcome static friction.

    Then you tilt the end of the pan down slightly and make a short, sharp inward movement, to get the pancake sliding outwards.

    Then you sharply flick the pan up, so that the pancake goes between one and two feet in the air (more if you're feeling cocky) and also spins enough that it lands in the pan the other way up.

    I'll be very impressed if they invent a machine which can repeatably toss pancakes. There are an awful lot of variables, which he seems to ignore. But then he is a physicist, not an engineer. ;-)