Basic statistical properties of monolayer packing configurations of a string of beads of diameter D in a planar cavity of size L×L×D are extensively investigated from experiments. The observed packing density p of the beads within the cavity is examined as a function of the packing fraction δ...

We disclose that only considering the largest cluster suffices to obtain a first-order percolation transition. As opposed to previous realizations of explosive percolation our novel models obtain Gaussian cluster distributions and compact clusters as one would expect at first-order transitions....