Mud curls up as it dries due to differential shrinking and the resulting stress on the surface layer. As the water evaporates, the surface layer shrinks more than the underlying layers, creating tension. This tension can cause the surface to peel away from the crack, forming a mud curl.
It is due to the water evaporation and the properties of the mud. The finer the mud dust is, the faster water will evaporate.
This is because the evaporation rate of water actually increases based on how much surface gets exposed to the air, since mud is not homogeneous and is not really plastic when it starts drying, any small imperfections or cracks found in the surface will increase as water evaporation happens, that will eventually make pieces that curl up, break and deform as they keep losing water and drying up.
The layers of mud from below, however, are not exposed to the air until the upper layer gets curled up so it can retain it’s plastic properties, allowing the pieces of curled dried mud to separate and dry on top.
Water also can dissolve minerals and when it leaves, these minerals start to agregate and clump together. This way the mud dust becomes a fragile solid chunk.
uglykidjoecross on April 25th, 2025 at 12:47 UTC »
Mud curls up as it dries due to differential shrinking and the resulting stress on the surface layer. As the water evaporates, the surface layer shrinks more than the underlying layers, creating tension. This tension can cause the surface to peel away from the crack, forming a mud curl.
Mightsole on April 25th, 2025 at 12:57 UTC »
It is due to the water evaporation and the properties of the mud. The finer the mud dust is, the faster water will evaporate.
This is because the evaporation rate of water actually increases based on how much surface gets exposed to the air, since mud is not homogeneous and is not really plastic when it starts drying, any small imperfections or cracks found in the surface will increase as water evaporation happens, that will eventually make pieces that curl up, break and deform as they keep losing water and drying up.
The layers of mud from below, however, are not exposed to the air until the upper layer gets curled up so it can retain it’s plastic properties, allowing the pieces of curled dried mud to separate and dry on top.
Water also can dissolve minerals and when it leaves, these minerals start to agregate and clump together. This way the mud dust becomes a fragile solid chunk.
One_Economist_3761 on April 25th, 2025 at 13:04 UTC »
Something something surface tension.