(5/5) “The advantage of a (#cheese)wire is that you can apply pressure only at the edge of the cut without all the extra friction & without squashing the cheese 🧀 so much that it becomes stiffer & harder to cut.

…Cutting cheese with a wire is a neat solution to the #physics problem of how to create a sharp, smooth cut in a resistant #proteinmesh.”

#HelenCzerski, #WSJ, #EverydayPhysics #CheeseScience #CheeseWire #CheeseCutter #Cheesy

😛

(4/4…no…5) “…the way a #cheese’s #proteinmesh responds to force is unique. It responds like a solid if cut or squeezed quickly but more like a flowing liquid if the mesh has more time to respond by releasing the stress.

…as you press down to slice through it, a cheese 🧀 becomes progressively stiffer & stronger. This is because the #casein mesh is squashed out around the cut, like a stretched sponge; it becomes stronger because it can’t easily move any further.”

#HelenCzerski #WSJ