Re:Why do we still not know what's inside the pyramids?
by tillinghast on Monday November 16, 2015 @10:25AM
(#10574907)
If you make the bottom of the pile accessible in some manner (like with a door), it's more efficient to withdraw the grain from that point due to gravity.
The Great Pyramids are around the 50° mark, where modern wheat's angle of repose is roughly half that (27°). That's not to say a pyramid-like structure couldn't be used to store wheat—just that the shape of these particular pyramids don't directly mimic the free-standing angle that a wheat mound would form.
Peripherally related, this pyramid talk finally made me look up "critical angle of repose" of various materials: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angle_of_repose#Angle_of_repos....
The Great Pyramids are around the 50° mark, where modern wheat's angle of repose is roughly half that (27°). That's not to say a pyramid-like structure couldn't be used to store wheat—just that the shape of these particular pyramids don't directly mimic the free-standing angle that a wheat mound would form.