Oreology deep dives into how to get equal creme on each cookie when splitting the iconic treat.
Have you ever twisted open anOreo cookieonly to wonder why the creme only end up on one of the cookies ? For years , this is the same question that has plagued Crystal Owens , a PhD candidate in mechanical technology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology , so much so that the PhD student just published a study on Oreology .
Oreology , harmonize to the study , is " the cogitation of the flow rate and fault of sandwich cookies . " Owens has undertaken this delicious task to envision out how to separate an Oreo cooky equally with the help of the scientific method , a squad of researchers , and a Rheometer , an instrument that measure the torque and viscousness of various substance .
Owens toldVicein an emailthat the experiment is near and heartfelt to her . " I was personally propel by a desire to figure out a challenge that had puzzled me as a nipper : How to open an Oreo and get creme evenly arrange on both wafers ? " She also added , " I preferred the taste perception of the cookie with the creme exposed . If I got a bite of wafer alone it was too teetotal for me , and if I douse it in milk the wafer would hang aside too fast . "
Courtesy of Oreology Study by Crystal Owens
So to forecast out if splitting theOreocreme equally was possible , Owens and her team used a laboratory Rheometer and contrive an " Oreometer , " a 3D - publish gimmick " designed for Oreos and similarly dimensioned pear-shaped objects , " according to the study . After each trial run twist , the squad would log their findings . And what would testing be without some variation ? Owens and her team sample dip the cookies in milk , changing the rotation charge per unit of the Rheometer , and testing different Oreo flavors and sate quantities .
Unfortunately , all of Owen ’s tries were in egotistical . accord to the scientist , all of her results validate what she saw as a kid , " We receive no trick for opening up our Oreos , " Owens says . " In basically all potential twisting configurations , the creme tends to delaminate from one wafer , ensue in one nearly bare wafer and one with almost all the creme . In the case that creme terminate up on both wafer , it tends to divide in one-half so that each wafer has a ' half - moon ' of creme rather than a thin level , so there is no secret to get creme equally everywhere just by twisting loose — you have to mush it manually if that ’s what you want . "
Although Ownes and her squad are still at a red ink about how to crock up open an Oreo cookie with equal creme on each wafer , the field of study is filled with illuminating facts about Oreo cookies . For example , the actual creme fill does not hold milk at all . According to the study , " [ the creme ] is actually more of a ice than a cream like cream high mallow or cream fill in pastries . " The squad also figured out that Oreos experience " pregnant structural loss " within a minute of exposure to milk . So all those times you thought it was taking constantly for milk to soften your Oreos , all you had to do was hold back a literal minute .
For anyone out there looking to take on the Oreo - splitting challenge themselves , Owens and her team shared their 3D printing files in the hope that the great unwashed can make and use the equipment themselves to try their hand at Oreology . " I hope this study also just urge citizenry to take puzzles that they ’re queer about in the earth around them and employ science to find the answers , " say Owens .
