On a Mechanistic Model of Spaghetti

Synopsis

What drives spaghetti do deform as it cooks? This question is surprisingly deep and has developed into an active field of research attracting the attention of the mechanics community. In this seminar I will present a recent development that constructs a mechanical model of spaghetti that is able to encapsulate the deformation sequence of a strand when it is confined to a pot. This model produces dynamics that agree well with experimental data and advances our knowledge of mechanisms which impart curvature while also being informative on how deformations of spaghetti map unto how well-cooked it is.