It's comforting to know that scientists are spending time and money to research the really serious problems that plague our lives...
us.cnn.com
And that's how the cookie crumbles
Thursday, October 2, 2003 Posted: 4:51 AM EDT (0851 GMT)
LONDON, England -- When
cookie-lovers open packages of
their favorite snacks, some of the
biscuits are often in bits.
Now scientists say they know why -- and it
has little to do with the way cookies are
packaged and transported.
Instead, laser tests carried out by British
physicists found that cookies -- or
biscuits, as they are known in Britain --
often develop "fault lines" a few hours after
baking.
According to researchers at the University
of Loughborough in Leicestershire,
central England, as biscuits cool down
after coming out of the oven, they pick up
moisture around the rim which causes
them to expand.
At the same time, moisture at the center makes them contract. The difference results
in a build-up of strain forces that can pull a cookie apart.
Cracks appear that weaken cookies so they easily break apart when handled,
moved or packaged.
Manufacturers try to tackle the problem by removing problem cookies before they
reach store shelves. But many crumbly cookies still end up in shoppers' hands.
"We now have a greater understanding of why biscuits develop cracks shortly after
being baked," said doctoral student Qasim Saleem, who led the research.
"This will help biscuit manufacturers adjust the humidity or temperature of their
factory production lines to change the cooling process in such a way that the biscuits
won't break up due to normal handling, and hence producing the perfect biscuit."
The scientists used an optical technique called "digital speckle pattern
interferometry" to study the surface of cookies cooling to room temperature.
A paper on the research, entitled "A novel application of speckle interferometry for the
measurement of strain distributions in semi-sweet biscuits," appeared Thursday in
the journal Measurement, Science and Technology. |
