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May The Force (of Mayonnaise) Be With You!

Roland Piquepaille writes "A team of chemists at Rice University was working last year on two separate projects: trying to create strong fibers from carbon nanotubes, and testing emulsions of oil and water. And they discovered that a force known as 'negative first normal stress difference' was present in both solutions. The next step was to go to a grocery store and buy a more common emulsion, namely a jar of mayonnaise. And bingo! This force was also at work. They tell us more in this news release, "Bizarre Attractive Force Found in Mayonnaise." Unfortunately, they don't know what to do from their findings. Still, it's fun science. More details and references are available in this overview."

21 comments

  1. No wonder.. by Randolpho · · Score: 4, Funny

    No wonder I'm addicted to Mayo! It's that hitherto unknown attractive force that compelled me to eat jar after jar.

    --
    "Times have not become more violent. They have just become more televised."
    -Marilyn Manson
  2. If you like mayonaise... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I suggest you try putting a jar in the freezer then let it thaw.

  3. hmmmm... mayonaise... by Roman_(ajvvs) · · Score: 4, Funny
    It's a shame they didn't test butter as well. I always wanted to know what would stick my sandwich slices together better: butter or mayonaise.

    There's a whole bunch of other foodstuffs you can test for this phenomenon: peanut butter, egg yolks and/or whites, gravy... hmmmm.. gravy. argl-argl-argl....

    --
    click-clack, front and back. I'm not moving this car otherwise.
  4. Is a mixture made by mixing by !the!bad!fish! · · Score: 2, Funny
    "Obviously, any application where there are mixtures of oil and water -- like petroleum production, food processing and the like -- could be candidates."
    I was told that oil and water don't mix. (It says so in the article.) Can you have a mixture of things that don't mix?

    May be mixture doesn't mean what I think it does.

    --
    Kids today are tyrants. They contradict their parent, gobble their food, and tyrannize their teachers. - Socrates 400 BC
    1. Re:Is a mixture made by mixing by Too+Much+Noise · · Score: 4, Informative

      They don't really mix, as they aren't soluble into each other. You add another substance to get an emulsion - it adsorbs on the interface and 'breaks' it, so you get droplets.

    2. Re:Is a mixture made by mixing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Remember grade school. Homegeneus is when the substances being put together mix entirely, meaning you could take a shot of the salt water over and over and get the same effect. Heterogeneus is what we have here.. When the two do not actually mix, such as that nice itailian dressing we buy

    3. Re:Is a mixture made by mixing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I thought a homogenius was, well, Leonardo Da Vinci. Or Turing.

    4. Re:Is a mixture made by mixing by cft_128 · · Score: 1

      Emulsifiers are substances that allow fat (oil, dairy fat) and a liquid (usually water) to mix and stay mixed. For mayo, lecithin in eggs is the emulsifier. Lecithin prevents the droplets of oil from recombining by bonding with the oil and coating it; it also bonds with the water a bit too helping things. Mustard is another emulsifier, but not as good (IIRC it only bonds with the oil, not the water).

      --

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  5. Shouldn't the heading read by toygeek · · Score: 4, Funny

    "Mayo the force be with you?"

  6. RTFNewsRelease by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Oh wait. This is /. so I'll have to cut and paste it...

    "Emulsions are combinations of two or more liquids that do not mix, and they are common in industrial settings like oil fields as well as in everyday foodstuffs like mayonnaise or vinaigrette salad dressing. In oil and water, an emulsion is created when tiny droplets of water become dispersed throughout the oil.

  7. Summary: Mayonnaise bulletproof vest! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Yeah... I can't afford a real bulletproof vest made out of Kevlar, so I'm just going to smear Mayo over myself.

    Yeah, like I need an excuse to do that anyway!

  8. My Nobel by aminorex · · Score: 4, Funny

    My own prize-worthy contribution to human knowledge
    will describe the mysterious repulsive force which
    can be confirmed to emanate from the accumulation
    of emulsion lipids in adipose tissue of the consumer.

    I've passed on blind dates for fear of this "dark matter".

    --
    -I like my women like I like my tea: green-
  9. Mayo lesson... by phreakmonkey · · Score: 4, Funny
    I got the best advice I've ever received from a jar of Mayonnaise:
    "Keep cool, but don't freeze."
  10. Mayonnaise by drox · · Score: 1

    ...Is there anything it can't do?

  11. Fundamental Forces by eingram · · Score: 3, Funny

    So... Strong. Weak. Electromagnetic. Gravity. and um, MAYO?

  12. What to do, what to do?!? by SuperBanana · · Score: 1
    Unfortunately, they don't know what to do from their findings

    Yeesh, talk about not being able to see the forest for the trees. Make sandwiches, of course!

  13. wow, this explains why it's hard to open the jar! by wisebabo · · Score: 3, Insightful

    No really!

    If you read the article the negative first normal stress difference says that sliding plates across "-- created forces that tugged the plates together. "

    Well, when you twist the lid, isn't that what you're doing? (Sliding it relative to the rest of the jar?)

    sig. for today
    If you're conservative when you're young you have no heart... If you're conservative when you're old you have no brain (with apologies to Winston Churchill; but he didn't know Bush!)

  14. Aerospace Applications by some+guy+I+know · · Score: 1

    Does this mean that we can build the Space Elevator out of mayonnaise?

    --
    Those who sacrifice security to condemn liberty deserve to repeat history or something. - Benjamin Santayana
  15. Cool... by Doches · · Score: 1

    ...and thus the next wave of science fiction is born. From Cyberpunk to Dinnergunk.

  16. Re:Is a mixture made by mixing - What A Mixture Is by RazorX90 · · Score: 2, Informative

    Technically, mixtures are just substances put together. Mixtures are normally divided into two categories. Heterogonous mixtures are of varying consistency (like a salad or oil and water). Homogenous mixtures are uniform throughout (like a solution of sugar water). So oil and water can mix, but they just aren't soluble with each other.

  17. April fools? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Is this an April Fools joke or is it for real?