Undergraduate-level demonstrations, problems, and simulations inspired by the physics of cranberry bogs

Connections between classroom physics and real-world observations provide a pedagogical opportunity for students to appreciate unexpected applications of their curriculum. For example, the common New England sight of a cranberry bog contains a rich tapestry of phenomena governed by fluid mechanics and soft matter physics. We develop a set of four connected problems and accompanying demonstrations inspired by the physics of the cranberry bog. We explore the behavior of cranberries in their stages of harvest, from their buoyancy in the flooded bog to their aggregation and collection with a boom to their flow through a hopper as they are sorted and transported. We model these phenomena from first principles and develop simple computational models of their collective behaviors, both accessible to an undergraduate physics student. We draw connections to broader physical principles in soft condensed matter and fluids, allowing the real-world example of the cranberry bog to serve as a bridge between an undergraduate curriculum and current soft matter research.