Floating Rice with Friction Experiment

Start off with a one question SURPRISE QUIZ. Its yes no answer and self grading. You can do it.

Can I lift a bottle full of rice by putting a chop stick in the bottle of rice?

Well lets see.

Don’t underestimate the Power of Friction. This is something that happens everyday, but we don’t notice it.

What’s Going On?
When the rice is inside the bottle, there are grains next to one another, but there is a little bit of space — an air pocket — in between each grain and its neighbor. Which allows the chop stick to slide out of the bottle.

When I packed the rice more tightly, the friction between each piece of rice and its nearest neighbors increased. At some point, the friction between the chop stick, rice and bottle was so great that it is strong enough to resist slipping and pick up the bottle.