To Break a Spaghetti Noodle

I have been a little worried that nobody has been applying math to do good work in recent years.  No need to worry anymore.  The other day, I chanced on a Live Science article written by Brandon Spektor that completely allayed my fears.

Before we dive into this, however, I would like to engage in a brief side discussion with any Italians or chefs in the mix.

Here is the deal, Italians and chefs, we are about to break uncooked spaghetti noodles in the name of science.  I realize this is a touchy, if not traumatic experience for you, but this is all in the name of good science.

For as long people have been breaking spaghetti noodles, both scientists and commoners have wondered why you cannot simply snap the noodles into two pieces.  Invariably, the noodles will splinter into three or more pieces.

Charged with solving this mystery, researchers at MIT applied some math-heavy physics, and a bit of old-fashioned ingenuity, to the process of breaking uncooked spaghetti.  The nature of the physics involved forced them to invent a machine that could bend and break spaghetti, one noodle at a time, while an ultra-high-speed camera captured the event.

After hundreds of ugly pasta shattering snaps (some that would make the most hardened chef cringe), the researchers found the formula for snapping spaghetti into only two pieces.  The key is to tightly grip the noodle on each end, twist the pasta at least 250 degrees, and bend slowly until the noodle reaches its breaking point.

The 250 degree twist is important.  Twisting the noodle enables energy to be stored and released in more than one mode within the length of the noodle.  Without the twist, the snapped noodle pieces fling apart with too much kinetic energy, causing secondary fractures at other points of stress    

I will admit, I found this study fascinating.

Some good work right there.

I am not very good at math, however, and I don’t have time to invent a pasta breaking machine.  So I am wondering if producing half-lengths of spaghetti at the pasta noodle plant might be a simpler solution.

 --Mitchell Hegman