McGill.CA / Science / Department of Physics

CPM Seminar

Impact craters in granular media

John de Bruyn

Physics and Physical Oceanography
Memorial University of Newfoundland

We have studied impact craters formed by dropping a steel ball into a container of small, loosely packed glass beads. Both the diameter and depth of the craters scale with the 1/4 power of the impact energy, as expected if gravity dominates the energetics of the crater formation process. We observe a progression of crater morphologies analogous to that seen in impact craters on the moon.

Wednesday, October 22nd 2003, 15:30
Ernest Rutherford Physics Building, R.E. Bell Conference Room (room 103)