The new law, which predicts how objects fragment, describes the invisible structure that ensures that the overall balance of fragments is maintained, even when an object breaks. The law applies to different types of objects — from glass bottles to soap bubbles.
Fragmentation, that is, the way objects break into pieces, has fascinated scientists for a long time.
Researchers have observed that when an object breaks, it tends to form fragments of various sizesand that the distribution of these sizes often follows a consistent patternregardless of the material in question.
Based on this understanding, Emmanuel Villermaux, researcher at Aix-Marseille University, in France, formulated a law simple and elegant which describes how objects break.
His approach applies to a great diversity of casesincluding fragile solids, liquid drops, and exploding bubbles. By providing a unified frame of reference, this law helps explain the underlying principles to the way materials are fragmented in different contexts.
Villermaux began by analyzing the extreme disorder created during a fragmentation event. He proposed that, in most cases, the result would naturally be the most chaotic and irregular configuration possible – a principle he called maximum randomnessthat is, nature follows the path of least resistance.
However, Villermaux recognized that even chaotic events are subject to physical limits. To take this into account, a Conservation Law previously discovered by his team, ensuring that the apparent randomness of the fragmentation also obeys predictable physical restrictions.
The law works like an invisible structureensuring that the overall balance of the fragments – i.e. how many are big versus small – remains the same, even when an object breaks.
To develop your Universal Law of Fragmentationwhich was presented in a publication last week in Physical Review LettersVillermaux combined the principle of maximum randomness with the law of conservation.
This method allows the predictable distribution of the size of fragments to emerge naturally, offering a unifying explanation for the way materials fragment in the most varied contexts, from fragile solids to drops of liquid and exploding bubbles, explains .
By combining the two principles, Villermaux was able to predict mathematically a universal standard for fragment sizes. Your model is in close agreement with decades of data experimental, covering a wide range of materials, from brittle solids to liquids.
The results show that, despite the apparent chaos of fragmentationare the underlying physical laws that determine the formation of fragmentscreating predictable distributions across different types of objects.
To validate his theory, Villermaux carried out a creative experiencecrushing sugar cubes individually. Accurately predicted the sizes of the resulting fragments, demonstrating that the break pattern faithfully reflected the three-dimensional shape of the cube.
To her universal However, it has its limits: works best when objects break in a random and chaotic waya, like when a glass falls to the floor and shatters. On the other hand, is less accurate for very soft materialssuch as certain plastics, which tend to deform rather than fragment.
Furthermore, the law cannot foresee fragmentation when the process is highly orderedas happens when a trickle of water divides into uniform drops due to surface tension.
These exceptions show that, although the law explains many natural fragmentation phenomena, certain materials and conditions follow different rules.
