Critical Fragmentation Properties of Random Drilling: How Many Holes Need to Be Drilled to Collapse a Wooden Cube?

• Published in: Physical review letters Vol. 116; no. 5; p. 055701
• Main Authors: Schrenk, K J, Hilário, M R, Sidoravicius, V, Araújo, N A M, Herrmann, H J, Thielmann, M, Teixeira, A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 05.02.2016

A solid wooden cube fragments into pieces as we sequentially drill holes through it randomly. This seemingly straightforward observation encompasses deep and nontrivial geometrical and probabilistic behavior that is discussed here. Combining numerical simulations and rigorous results, we find off-cr...