Tapping a tomato makes it ring like a bell, albeit a highly dampened one. The
vibrations could be used as a means of grading the fruit for firmness if it
wasn鈥檛 for the tomato鈥檚 irregular internal structure. Tapping it around its
equator at different points produces different types of vibration, so it鈥檚
impossible to grade. Researchers at the Laboratory of Agricultural Machinery and
Processing in Leuven, Belgium, have a solution (Mathematics and Computers in
Simulation, vol 56, p 385). They鈥檝e found that simply tapping a tomato at
its 鈥渟outh pole鈥 always produces the same type of vibration, so grading will be
consistent.
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