2001/11/19 by Joseph A. Both, Daniel C. Hong
Chemistry · Engineering · Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Brazil nut #Chemistry #Computer science #Condensation #Crossover #Granular flow and fluidized beds #Hard spheres #Material Dynamics and Properties #Nut #Phase Equilibria and Thermodynamics #Physics #Quantum mechanics #SPHERES #Simple (philosophy) #Statistical physics #Theoretical physics #Thermodynamics #cond-mat.stat-mech
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.88.124301
10 pages, 3 figures
arxiv created 2001/11/19 · openalex publication_date 2002/03/07 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
It is demonstrated that the minimization of the free energy functional for hard spheres and hard disks yields the result that excited granular materials under gravity segregate not only in the widely known "Brazil nut" fashion, i.e., with the larger particles rising to the top, but also in reverse "Brazil nut" fashion. Specifically, the local density approximation is used to investigate the crossover between the two types of segregation occurring in the liquid state, and the results are found to agree qualitatively with previously published results of simulation and of a simple model based on condensation.