Mixing It Up

Pitt researchers find moisture
helps, hinders in particle mixing

If you want to mix batches of two granular particles, just add a little moisture. If you want to separate a mixture of two granular particles, just add a little moisture.

Mixed up? A University of Pittsburgh engineering professor and his graduate assistant found that adding moisture to a batch of two different granular particles will cause them either to mix or to separate, depending on the composition of the particles.

Joseph McCarthy, assistant professor in the Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, and graduate student Hongming Li developed and tested a theory regarding particle mixing and segregating. Their findings were published earlier this year in Physical Review Letters. Full Article...

An early study for Fallingwater done by Frank Lloyd Wright

Exploring the History, Myths, Magic
of Fallingwater

If you are a southwestern Pennsylvania resident who has never made the trek into the remote Fayette County woods to see Frank Lloyd Wright's famous house—Fallingwater—you are not alone.

Pitt Professor of Art History Franklin Toker estimates that fewer than one and a half percent of all Americans have actually seen the renowned building nestled in its natural surroundings, or gazed from its cantilevered balconies, or walked through the building's damp cave-like interior, with Bear Run waterfall rushing beneath the floor.

But certainly most people have heard of Wright's famous masterpiece, which became the weekend home of Pittsburgh department store magnate E.J. Kaufmann and his family. Full Article...