<< Granular materials are disordered systems often found in a far-from-equilibrium state. >>
<< You can think of it like a beaker filled with loose sand, (..) At first there are big holes between the grains. So initially, it's easy for a grain to shift position by falling into an empty space. But as these spaces start to get smaller, it becomes less likely that a grain can fall through one. As the taps continue, it takes increasingly cooperative events to create the space necessary for more compaction. >> Stefan Boettcher.
<< Previous research has shown a similar statistical pattern for the behavior of amorphous solids that don't form ordered crystals when moving from a liquid to a solid state, such as glass and many polymers. >>
Carol Clark. Movers and shakers: New evidence for a unifying theory of granular materials. Emory University. Jan 08, 2021.
Paula A. Gago, Stefan Boettcher.
Universal features of annealing and aging in compaction of granular piles.
PNAS. 117 (52) 33072-33076. doi: 10.1073/ pnas.2012757117. Dec 14, 2020.
