The pseudo-two-dimensional dynamics in a system of macroscopic rolling spheres

Abstract

We study in this work the dynamics of a collection of identical hollow spheres (ping-pong balls) that rest on a horizontal metallic grid. Fluidization is achieved by means of a turbulent air current coming from below. The upflow is adjusted so that the particles do not levitate over the grid, resulting in quasi-two-dimensional dynamics. We show that the behavior of diffusion and correlations in this system is particularly rich. Noticeably as well (and related to the complex dynamical behavior), a variety of phases appear, with important peculiarities with respect to analogous setups. We observe gas, liquid, glass, and hexagonal crystal phases. Most notably, we show that the melting of the hexagonal crystal occurs in coexistence with a liquid phase. This strikingly differs from the corresponding transition in a purely two-dimensional systems of air-fluidized disks, for which no phase coexistence has been reported in the literature.

arXiv comment14 pages, 9 figures; supplementary material with additional figures, experiment movies and experimental data available in external link

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Cited by in corpus (6)

• Diffusive regimes in a two-dimensional chiral fluid
• Hydrodynamics of granular gases of inelastic and rough hard disks or spheres. I. Transport coefficients
• Spin and velocity correlations in a confined two-dimensional fluid of disk-shaped active rotors
• Anomalous Diffusion in a Monolayer of Lightweight Spheres Fluidized in Airflow
• Diffusion and velocity correlations of the phase transitions in a system of macroscopic rolling spheres
• Translational and rotational non-Gaussianities in homogeneous freely evolving granular gases