Editing Sorting (section)

===Physical===
{{redirect|Shaker table|tables made by Shakers|Shaker furniture}}
[[File:Potomac Yard - aerial 1980s.jpg|thumb|A railroad [[classification yard]], used for sorting [[freight car]]s]]
Various sorting tasks are essential in industrial processes, such as [[mineral processing]]. For example, during the extraction of [[gold]] from ore, a device called a [[shaker table]] uses [[gravity]], [[oscillation|vibration]], and flow to [[separation process|separate]] gold from lighter materials in the ore (sorting by size and weight). Sorting is also a naturally occurring process that results in the concentration of [[ore]] or [[Sorting (sediment)|sediment]]. Sorting results from the application of some criterion or differential stressors to a mass to separate it into its components based on some variable quality. Materials that are different, but only slightly so, such as the isotopes of uranium, are very difficult to separate.

[[Optical sorting]] is an automated process of sorting solid products using cameras and/or lasers and has widespread use in the food industry.{{citation needed|date=August 2019}} [[Sensor-based sorting]] is used in mineral processing.<ref name="Malhotra2009">{{cite book|author=Deepak Malhotra|title=Recent Advances in Mineral Processing Plant Design|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q1iiQUczjuQC&q=%22sensor-based+sorting%22|year=2009|publisher=SME|isbn=978-0-87335-316-8}}</ref>