Say What? Planetary Science

To explain asteroid composition, scientists invoke nuts

Brazil nut effect may be behind space rocks’ lumpy surfaces

asteroid Itokawa

NUT CASE  Large boulders speckle the surface of the asteroid Itokawa, an example of the Brazil nut effect.

Courtesy of JAXA

By Thomas Sumner

- More than 2 years ago

Brazil nut effect
BRUH-zil nuht ih-fekt n.

The phenomenon in which a mixture’s larger objects, such as Brazil nuts in a can of mixed nuts, rise to the top when the mix is shaken vertically.