Scientists develop a simulation model to take the guesswork out of calculating the roughness of a sphere

The scientific community uses spheres for all sorts of things—artificial limbs, cars, molecular chemistry—but there's always a little uncertainty when this geometric shape is introduced into an experiment. While spheres might look smooth and round to the naked eye, their surfaces are far from it. Even a ball bearing, when held up to intense scrutiny, is riddled with peaks and valleys. These inconsistencies change how the spheres interact with the world and can cause problems for ever