Syuhairah+and+Her+Food+World

=** A Rheology Story **=

I have read in internet an article written by Faith A. Morrison about rheology and he is able to tell it in a very simple way to understand not only for us as a food technologist but also to any person.

The story is begin when a hotel clerk ( Dipankar) asked him what is rheology??? He answered the question by saying that rheology is a study of deformation and flow.**This is true, but not an answer that would usually trigger a light-bulb moment for a hotel clerk.... :)**   Instead, the Faith A. Morrison says, “Rheology is the study of the flow of materials that behave in an interesting or unusual manner. **Oil and water flow in familiar, normal ways, whereas mayonnaise, peanut butter, chocolate, bread dough, and Silly Putty flow in complex and unusual ways. In rheology, we study the flows of unusual materials.**”    Because Dipankar appeared to be truly interested about rheology, he explained a bit more about rheology. “ You know how, when you open a partly used jar of mayonnaise, the top surface **retains the shape created by the last person who made a sandwich**?”    “True,” said Dipankar.    Well, compare that observation with the behavior of honey. The top surface of honey in a jar is always smooth. Within a few seconds of serving yourself from a honey jar, the surface is flat again. **Honey is able to flow and become flat quite rapidly, while the mayo, even after months, fails to flow, and it retains the last shape carved into it by a knife.”** That is odd,” Dipankar concurred. “**What’s the difference between mayo and honey? If anything, honey seems thicker to me than mayonnaise, so the honey should have a harder time flowing than the mayo.”** **“Good observation.** You’ve just noticed a key point is about studying unusual flow behavior. **Normal fluids can be different in the sense that some are thicker than others; some fluids have higher viscosities than others**. But other than having different viscosities, all normal or Newtonian fluids—air, water, honey—follow the same scientific laws. On the other hand, **some fluids do not follow Newtonian flow laws.** These non- Newtonian fluids—for example, mayo, paint, molten plastics, and foams— behave in a wide variety of ways.”

~the moral based on this story, a normal person like a hotel clerk that does not study about rheology also can understand about rheology...this story is a good example on how we as a food technologist can explain rheology into a simple way and easy to understand... :)