The problem interests materials scientists US researchers have put forward a new view on a problem that has fascinated mathematicians since biblical times. Understanding exactly how the particles in a system fall into place has important implications for many fields of science.
Materials scientists are particularly interested in the subject.
Some of the newest materials are engineered on a scale that can be measured in billionths of a metre - nanometres. These materials have unusual electrical and optical properties because of the very precise way in which their atoms are arranged. Experiments have even been done on the space shuttle to study how packing might be influenced in a micro-gravity environment. Stirring and shaking Researchers looking at the problem of stacking have long accepted the notion that, given enough stirring and shaking, a random collection of particles will always settle to a maximum density, a state known as random close packing. Torquato and his colleagues used a combination of computer simulations and theoretical observations.