4 ms·

Same "explosion" happens when he crushes a book with the press. Wrecks a camera. "Mayhem" as he says: https://youtu.be/PmvKlnhMjUw?t=1m55s https://youtu.be/Pmv

by crikli 10y ago

Same "explosion" happens when he crushes a book with the press. Wrecks a camera. "Mayhem" as he says: https://youtu.be/PmvKlnhMjUw?t=1m55s https://youtu.be/PmvKlnhMjUw?t=1m55s

drostie 10y ago
See, that is a significant point in favor of the above. I had figured that the most plausible explanation was that elastic energy was systematically getting stored in the folds, largely because the folds were at right angles to each other (hence each one is a "spine" which forces the sheet to "stretch" to accommodate it). A prediction of this hypothesis is that a book would not catastrophically fail until a much higher pressure, and that it might fail like other objects do, by eventually squirting outward like putty. It's possible that a hybrid approach is needed: this failure seems like a release of stored energy; this explanation needs to account for the energy storage in the cellular matrix (probably not that complicated) and then we have a ready explanation of why there is a catastrophic failure whenever the hydrogen bonds themselves begin to rip (as all the stored energy is released at once).
tomerico 10y ago
I'm not convinced that the same thing is happening here. If you look at the aftermath, it seems that the press has curved a hole through the book. The "explosion" seems to be the aftershock of the press hitting the table with force after forcing itself through the book.
- crikli 10y ago
  You see a lot of paper debris in the air that looks similar to the striated but crumbly paper in the OP video. You make a good point and I think it's both things, actually. 1) The bonds in the paper fracture 2) The elastic energy in the press causes the cylinder to drive downward, splattering the malformed paper in all directions 3) Which makes room for the cylinder to make it most of the way through the book.

by crikli 10y ago

Same "explosion" happens when he crushes a book with the press. Wrecks a camera. "Mayhem" as he says: https://youtu.be/PmvKlnhMjUw?t=1m55s https://youtu.be/PmvKlnhMjUw?t=1m55s

drostie 10y ago

See, that is a significant point in favor of the above. I had figured that the most plausible explanation was that elastic energy was systematically getting stored in the folds, largely because the folds were at right angles to each other (hence each one is a "spine" which forces the sheet to "stretch" to accommodate it). A prediction of this hypothesis is that a book would not catastrophically fail until a much higher pressure, and that it might fail like other objects do, by eventually squirting outward like putty. It's possible that a hybrid approach is needed: this failure seems like a release of stored energy; this explanation needs to account for the energy storage in the cellular matrix (probably not that complicated) and then we have a ready explanation of why there is a catastrophic failure whenever the hydrogen bonds themselves begin to rip (as all the stored energy is released at once).

tomerico 10y ago

I'm not convinced that the same thing is happening here. If you look at the aftermath, it seems that the press has curved a hole through the book. The "explosion" seems to be the aftershock of the press hitting the table with force after forcing itself through the book.

crikli 10y ago
You see a lot of paper debris in the air that looks similar to the striated but crumbly paper in the OP video. You make a good point and I think it's both things, actually. 1) The bonds in the paper fracture 2) The elastic energy in the press causes the cylinder to drive downward, splattering the malformed paper in all directions 3) Which makes room for the cylinder to make it most of the way through the book.