Researchers solved the mystery of the universe and cut uncooked spaghetti in half.

Learning physics is bound to meet some bigger mysteries in the universe. What happened before the big bang? What's in a black hole? Is it possible to cut a dry spaghetti into two parts? "

Maybe you found yourself asking the last question in the kitchen. Why, when you try to cut a piece of uncooked spaghetti in half, almost always three or more pieces of spaghetti crackle on your counter? For decades, this illogical phenomenon has been puzzling chefs and scholars; It is said that even richard feynman, the Nobel Prize winner in physics who helped develop the atomic bomb during World War II, spent most of the night sitting in the kitchen, snapping spaghetti and looking for an explanation. [Mysterious Physics of Seven Everyday Things]

Feynman can be said to be dry, but in the end, a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Monday (August 13) provided some conclusions. With the help of some mathematical models and a spaghetti bending robot, MIT researchers found that, yes, it is possible to cut an uncooked spaghetti into two parts, but there is a twist … literally. The researchers wrote that in order to prevent the curved spaghetti from breaking into half a dozen, one end of the spaghetti must first be twisted nearly 360 degrees.

Or more technically, "the research results promote people's general understanding of how distortion affects fault cascade." In any case, j?rn· dunkel, an associate professor of physics, said in a statement that this is an interesting interdisciplinary project initiated and implemented by two smart and persistent students who may not want to see, break or eat spaghetti for the time being.

In their new research, MIT researchers broke more than 350 Barilla spaghetti and used ultra-high-speed cameras. In order to make their carbonization experiment completely accurate, the main research author Ronald Heather (now an engineering graduate student at Cornell University) built a special pasta bending machine with aluminum pliers clamped at both ends of the noodles. In each experiment, a thin noodle was put into the machine, twisted to a predetermined degree, and then bent upward until it broke. After destroying spaghetti many times,

The researchers found that only when the machine twisted the noodles at least 250 degrees and then slowly bent them to the breaking point could they completely divide a spaghetti into two pieces. According to the researchers, these results are consistent in two types of spaghetti (Barilla and No.7, with slightly different diameters) and are consistent with a series of spaghetti bending models run by the research team before the experiment.

So why is distortion so important? According to this new study, twisting "enables the rod to store energy in various ways". Imagine that when an untwisted rod breaks for the first time, every half rod will bounce back with a kinetic energy. A study in 2005 found that the energy wave released by this rebate was so strong that it also caused other stressed parts of noodles to fall off. (This research won the Ig Nobel Prize in 2006, which is an annual imitation award for "impossible research". Please note that this behavior is not limited to noodles, but can also be seen in many slender rod-shaped structures, including the Olympic high jump pole.

It appears in twisted noodles, and MIT researchers write that most rebound waves are converted into "twisted waves" and spread through the uncoiling of noodles. Therefore, the recoil is weakened and it is unlikely to lead to more fractures.

"Once [noodles] are broken, you will still get a kickback, because the fishing rod should be straight," dunkel said, but it doesn't want to be twisted.

So, yes: it is possible to divide your noodles into two exact parts. Feynman will be very happy. Although this discovery may not be an atomic bomb, it can help future researchers to better understand general fracture mechanics and even help to design fracture-resistant nano-materials. Whether these findings are applicable to other types of pasta, such as Bu Catini, needs further study.

Originally published in the journal Life Science.