In this experiment, Hannah Hypothesis will investigate whether materials always perform in the same way. To do so she visits our Delft Aerospace Structures and Materials Laboratory. Again, you can repeat this experiment yourself at home, if you’d like to. The instructions are listed under the video!

Equipment list

To carry out this experiment at home you will need:

• A burlap bag that you are not using anymore
• An old stretchy T-shirt
• A pair of scissors
• A protractor

Instructions:

• From each material, cut a rectangular piece measuring about 20cm long and 8cm wide in the upright direction, just like in the video.
• Using the protractor, cut another rectangular piece of about 20cm long and 8cm wide only this time at angle of 45 degrees from the upright direction.
• Pull the two T-shirt samples apart with your hands until they stretch no further and observe what happens.
• Repeat with the two burlap samples.

You should be able to observe the same things as in the video. Let us know how it goes, or if you have suggestions for other anisotropic materials!

Safety first: If only to state the obvious: scissors are sharp, so please take care to not cut yourself (or anyone else, for that matter).