Scientists probe chopstick skills

Three out of five people in the UK are scared of chopsticks

Physicists have developed a maths formula that measures how skilled you are with a pair of chopsticks.

University of Surrey researchers came up with a "comfort factor" which determines how at ease you are with the 5,000-year-old Chinese implements.

The comfort factor is measured on a scale of one to 100 and takes into account several features such as the food's mass and how slippery it is.

The work was commissioned by firm Uncle Ben's to promote Chinese New Year.

"It's a bit of fun, but it is based on proper physics," Dr Jim Al-Khalili, co-author of the study, told BBC News Online.

The formula also takes into account the shape of the food, the angle of the chopsticks, their length and how many Chinese meals you have eaten in your life.

"Picking up a piece of chicken is obviously going to require less force than picking up an ice cube."

The formula was devised by Dr Al-Khalili and his postdoctoral researcher Qiang Zhao.

Dr Al-Khalili said the formula had been "thrashed out in a morning, before coffee."

About three out of five Britons would rather use a fork in a Chinese restaurant, according to a survey.

But the researchers are not expecting their formula to bring and end to this peculiar aversion.

"We're not proposing that people go along to a restaurant with this formula," Dr Al-Khalili said.

Chopsticks are supposed to be held at a 45-degree angle, pressing down with the index finger on the first stick.