Smoothing a rock by chipping.
We investigate an idealized model for the size reduction and smoothing of a polygonal rock due to repeated chipping at corners. Each chip is sufficiently small so that only a single corner and a fraction of its two adjacent sides are cut from the object in a single chipping event. After many chips have been cut away, the resulting shape of the rock is generally anisotropic, with facet lengths and corner angles distributed over a broad range. Although a well-defined shape is quickly reached for each realization, there are large fluctuations between realizations.
Krapivsky
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Center for Polymer Studies and Department of Physics, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA.
Redner
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