The Oreometer isn’t capable of peeling, so the team used it to twist the cookies. The cookie goes between the two clamps, and rubber bands on the clamps adjust torque on the wafers. As pennies are added to a chamber on one side, the clamp rotates, separating the cookie.
The researchers found that the creme would often stay on one side of the wafers (“Wafer 1”) rather than the other, which they believe is a result of how the Oreos are manufactured. They tested regular Oreos as well as the Double and Mega Stuf varieties, which have more creme filling, and didn’t report any apparent correlation between the amount of creme and how cleanly the cookie separated.
The team made the Oreometer design open source, so anyone can build their own device and collect data on Oreo separation and shear. Fry would be proud.
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