My nemesis colleague insisted on using chewing gum to help me open the coconut...

A man bought coconuts.

After I got it to the office, I realized that I forgot to ask the seller to peel it. At this time, a colleague rushed out with a chewing gum in his hand: Watch me!

There is nothing but a hole. I took the photo myself.

After smashing the coconut against the chewing gum, a dent appeared on the surface of the coconut, but that was all. After smashing it several times, the colleague began to peel the coconut with his bare hands and smashed the exposed hairy coconut against the chewing gum:

My colleague suspected that the thick coconut skin affected the performance of the chewing gum, but the peeled hairy coconut still crushed the chewing gum... | Photo taken by myself

My colleague suspected that the thick coconut skin affected the performance of the chewing gum, but the peeled hairy coconut still crushed the chewing gum...

In order to save face, the colleague was a little anxious: "The coconut can't be opened, so... I can try to open the coconut juice can?"

Nothing happened丨I took this myself

So who spread the legend of " chewing gum opening coconuts "? Can soft chewing gum really crack open coconuts?

After smashing the coconut, the gum flew away: Gone

After smashing the coconut hard, the chewing gum flew away: It slipped away | I took this photo myself

30% depends on hard work, 70% is determined by fate

After arduous efforts, we finally used chewing gum to open the coconut. The following is our experimental report, as well as some unexpected tricks.

Experimental materials: 800g of 1 young coconut and 5 pieces of chewing gum.

Experimental process:

1. Shape 5 pieces of chewing gum into sharp cones. This takes 10 minutes.

2. Stand the gum cone upright and hold the coconut with the pointed end facing up and the flat bottom facing down .

3. Quickly smash the coconut onto the gum.

Experimental Ethics Statement:

This protocol has been approved by the Ethics Committee of the Guokr Editorial Department (approval number: GUOKR42). The possibility of damage to the ground, chewing gum, coconut and the hands of the experimenters has been fully considered in the protocol design, and the experimental supplies (coconut juice) have been properly disposed of (shared).

Experimental results:

Have a drink丨I took this myself

After countless failed experiments, we summarized some experiences:

1. Choose the right piece of chewing gum and slowly shape it into a cone (don't chew it in your mouth!), use more pieces. We used a whole pack of 5 pieces, and if you only use 1 piece, the small cone may not be able to penetrate the coconut.

2. If you buy the white coconuts commonly seen in supermarkets, remember to smash the coconut with the tip facing up and the bottom facing down . This is because there are usually three holes at the bottom of the coconut, and only one hole can be pierced more easily. That hole is for the coconut to sprout and grow leaves.

For a hairy coconut without an outer layer like this, you can poke it open with a light poke at the round hole at the bottom...丨Photographed by myself

For a hairy coconut without an outer layer like this, you can just poke it open with a light poke at the round hole at the bottom...

How can a small piece of chewing gum be compared to an electric drill?

Newton or not Newton

Chewing gum, an object that becomes soft when it encounters soft things and hard when it encounters hard things, has a very advanced-sounding name: non-Newtonian fluid .

Non-Newtonian fluid is actually a concept opposite to Newtonian fluid.

In simple terms, a fluid like water will continue to flow regardless of the force you apply to it. In other words, the "viscosity" of a Newtonian fluid is constant and is not affected by the force applied (but is affected by temperature).

But the "fluidity" of chewing gum is affected by external forces: gently squeezing it can make it change into different shapes, while hitting it hard will make it "remain motionless" . This somewhat counter-intuitive property is a manifestation of non-Newtonian fluids.

When a sudden and great pressure is applied to the gum (by hitting it with a coconut), the gum quickly becomes hard enough to penetrate the coconut shell.

There are actually many non-Newtonian fluids in our daily lives, such as toothpaste and ketchup. Can they also open coconuts?

Hard is not a cow, soft is not a cow

Non-Newtonian fluids not only thicken with force, but also thin .

Chewing gum is one of the shear thickening fluids , and similar ones include starch solutions and slime toys.

Ketchup , which is something that you can't pour out no matter how hard you pour it, but comes out in a bunch when you shake it hard, is a shear-thinning fluid . When you shake the bottle of ketchup hard, the ketchup inside will "become thinner" due to the force, and then it will flow out.

Quicksand, like ketchup, is a shear-thinning fluid. So if your legs are stuck in quicksand and it's hard to pull them out, one way to save yourself is to try to shake one leg so that the quicksand becomes thinner and you can pull it out, and then use the same method to pull out the other leg.

Toothpaste is more special, belonging to Bingham fluid . This fluid has a "critical value". When you apply force exceeding a certain value, it will change from a solid-like state to "flowing". Just like toothpaste, it will not "flow" if you don't squeeze it.

Non-Newtonian fluids are actually a large family, and not all non-Newtonian substances can be used to open coconuts. Shear-thinning fluids like ketchup will only become thinner when force is applied.

But we did try the ketchup, and it was so mushy that it couldn’t even be piled up into a small cone… and we saved the office from turning into a murder scene (my bosses all had to thank me)!

Author: Owl, Little Towel

Editor: You Shiyou

Cover photo source: taken by myself

Mai Mai also contributed to this article

Guokr (ID: Guokr42)

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