M&M's obsession leads to physics discovery

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Princeton physicist Paul Chaikin's passion for M&M's candies was so well known that his students played a sweet practical joke on him by leaving a 55-gallon drum of the candies in his office.

Little did they know that their prank would lead to a physics breakthrough.

The barrel full of the oblate little candies made Chaikin think about how well they packed in. A series of studies have shown they pack more tightly than perfect spheres -- something that surprises many physicists and Chaikin himself.

...READ ON

I don't get it.

It makes sense that the flatter something is the more tightly it can be packed together.

I could've told you that.

Thats one expensive prank (if anyone would like to imitate it, I would prefer Smarties)

What a waste. ;)

I don't get it.
It makes sense that the flatter something is the more tightly it can be packed together.
I could've told you that.

Yeah really. Maybe Ill make the amazing physics discovery that if I have a whole bunch of paper stacked up on my desk, it stacks so well that there is almost no air between the sheets.

???

"a physics breakthrough"

Oh come on!!

The M&M's were probably a bribe from the students.

Yeah, he's so busy with this "research" he doesn't have time to work on a final exam...

They melted silly...

Dont they melt in the mouth and not in the hand? - oh, that's Minstrels;)