A team of mechanical engineers at MIT recently developed an “Oreometer” to test the optimal way to separate the two halves of an Oreo biscuit, and succeeded in separating the biscuits and the cream filling inside without disturbing them.
This rather strange-sounding research project was originally a study of how matter flows (rheology – flow science). This particular experiment was called “Oreology.” The liquid portion of the study was the cream filling. The team classified the filling as “dough-like”; a soft solid, that is, not very brittle, and relatively soft (like bread).
Oreo cream can be described as a yield stress liquid, including ingredients such as cookie dough, concrete and lava. These are liquids that behave like soft solids, meaning they only flow or change shape when sufficient pressure is applied to them. In the case of biscuits, that pressure comes from your hands opening the cookie or your biting teeth.
The team created the Oreometer to test how different types of Oreo separate after dividing the cookie, paying particular attention to the icing distribution between the two layers. Their research has been published in Physics of Fluids.
Crystal Owens, lead author of the new paper, a mechanical engineer at MIT, wrote in an email to Gizmodo, “Our favorite form of bending is the kind that’s most reliable for getting a very clean separation when ripping Oreos off one side. “It’s intuitively well known that peeling causes an adhesive problem, such as when you want to remove a sticker from a surface without tearing itself.”
Because the oreometer is not capable of peeling, the team used this device to bend biscuits that make up two layers. The biscuit is placed between the two clamps, and the rubber bands on the clamps adjust the rotation of the biscuits. When a coin is inserted into the compartment on one side, the clamp rotates to separate the biscuit.
The researchers found that the cream often remained on one side of the wafers (“Waffles 1”), and they said they believe this is a result of how Oreos are produced. They tested the Double and Mega Stuf variants with more cream fillings, as well as regular Oreos, and found no significant correlation between the amount of cream and how cleanly the cookie separated.
The team has released the Oreometer design as open source. So anyone who wants can set up their own device and collect data about Oreo splitting and cutting.
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