Aside from Halloween, no holiday is more associated with chocolate than Easter. From chocolate bunnies to cream-filled eggs, Easter is one of the sweetest holidays around. But have you ever wondered what those tasty treats look like at the micrometer level? Well, wonder no more, because a team of researchers at the University of Manchester have created 3D renderings of what some of Easter’s most tantalizing treats look like under X-Ray.
Some of the results have revealed some interesting things about our favorite treats. For example, just over half of a Kit Kat bar is made up of chocolate. The biscuit and wafer portions compose 47 percent of the bar. Additionally, Dr. Tristan Lowe revealed that his studies into Kit Kats could have some practical benefits in regards to how we analyze rocks for natural resources. This is due to the similar structure between the Kit Kat bar and certain rocks.
‘The interesting part of the Kit Kat bar is the fine wafer structure that can be analysed using a network model similar to that used to understand how the porosity in rocks is connected and this has implications for extraction,” Lowe said. “In the video the visualised network shows that the wafer is a complex interconnected structure that is fairly uniform in shape.”
Most of us aren’t going to be doing much research on geology. However, that doesn’t mean Lowe’s work is without practical benefits to the average person. Feeling a bit disappointed over the ratio of chocolate to biscuit in Kit Kat bars? Well, in that case, you’ll be glad to know that Lowe has also provided us with some information regarding which of the tested candy bars is the most dense. The winner is the Yorkie Bar which, incidentally, bears some resemblance to sheets of metal made by 3D printers.
While this is certainly an interesting and amusing way to look at Easter candies, we do have to admit that it is a bit odd see such in-depth images of chocolate rabbits and Kit Kat bars. Of course, that doesn’t make them any less delicious and if you can check them out for yourself on the university’s YouTube page.
This research comes at an opportune time as we head into Easter weekend, but it also coincides with April Fools Day. We rounded up our favorite gags here.
