  The fragment-size distributions of raw carrot diced or crushed using a food
mixer are studied experimentally. For the 5-mm-square raw carrot, the normal
distribution shows a characteristic feature of food fragmentation statistics.
This simple result indicates that most random errors contribute to
fragment-size fluctuation. On the other hand, for the crushed raw carrot, the
cumulative fragment size distribution follows the power law where the exponent
$\alpha \simeq 1.62 > 1$. Furthermore, considering the cumulative fragment-size
distribution as a function of length for comparison with geomaterials, such as
fault rocks, the exponent $D \simeq 3.64$. Previous studies have shown that the
power-law distribution observed in sequential fragmentation tends to have a
large exponent value. As our experiment is also based on sequential
fragmentation, the obtained large values of exponents $\alpha$ and $D$ are
consistent with those obtained in previous studies on sequential fragmentation.
On the basis of previous studies and our observations, we discuss the effect of
the preferential fragmentation of particles as large as the mixer blades. We
also discuss the existence of a lower limit beyond which further fragmentation
is difficult, resulting in a power-law distribution tendency for raw carrot
crushed with a food mixer.
