Shake a can of mixed nuts long enough and the biggest ones rise to the top

Physicists call it the Brazil nut effect: in a shaken mix of different-sized granular particles, the largest pieces migrate to the surface regardless of density. Smaller grains fall into gaps that open beneath big ones with each shake and cannot fall back out, ratcheting the big pieces upward over time.

— A.D. Rosato, K.J. Strandburg, F. Prinz, R.H. Swendsen, Why the Brazil Nuts Are on Top: Size Segregation of Particulate Matter by Shaking — Physical Review Letters, 1987

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