PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

The scientific explanation of why beer overflows

2014-01-21
(Press-News.org) Contact information: Ana Herrera
oic@uc3m.es
Carlos III University of Madrid
The scientific explanation of why beer overflows This news release is available in Spanish.

Scientists at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid reveal the physical phenomenon that explains beer's rapid transformation from a liquid to a foamy state as the result of an impact. This research has applications in the area of naval engineering or in studies related to the prediction of gases in volcanic eruptions.

The idea for this research came about at the bar of a tavern when it was observed that the foam of one beer spilled over when somebody jokingly hit the neck of one bottle against the base of another, the researchers confess. "We all began to propose hypotheses and theories about the cause of the phenomenon, but none of them convinced us, so we decided to take it to the laboratory to do research using controlled experiments in well-defined conditions to analyze which physical phenomena are behind the appearance of that foam," comments Javier Rodríguez, a professor in UC3M's Department of Thermal and Fluids Engineering, who has presented a preliminary report on the study's results at the American Physics Society's most recent annual conference on fluid mechanics, the most prestigious conference on fluid mechanics in the world.

This study, carried out in collaboration with the Institute Jean le Rond D'Alembert (a mixed research unit of the CNRS (France's National Center For Scientific Research) and the Université Pierre et Marie Curie, in France, explains in detail what happens after a bottle receives an impact. It is a process with three well-defined phases. First, expansion and compression waves appear. These advance inside the liquid and cause the gas cavities (bubbles) to burst at the bottom of the bottle. Afterwards, small balls of foam are formed because the bubbles break into even smaller ones. Finally, given that they weigh less than the liquid surrounding them, these bubbles move to the surface so rapidly that the final result is similar to an explosion. "In fact," comments Rodríguez¬, "those clouds of foam are very much like the mushroom cloud caused by a nuclear explosion." In one second, almost all of the beer shoots out of the bottle.

The foam appears because, in carbonated beverages, there is more carbon dioxide (CO2) than the water (the main component) is able to maintain in the solution. "Usually, the CO 2 escapes very slowly. But the chain of events set off by the blow to the bottle multiplies the escape of gas by a very high factor: a bottle may lose in seconds the same amount of gas that it would normally lose in hours if we simply left the bottle open on the table," explains Javier Rodríguez.

In order to demonstrate the validity of their theory, the first version of which has already been published in Arvix, the researchers came up with a system for studying the phenomenon in slow motion. First, they aimed at the base of the bottle with a high energy pulsed laser to cause a bubble to appear. Then they hit the neck of the bottle and recorded everything with a high-speed camera that allowed them to obtain over 50000 still photos per second. Because of this, they were able to describe in detail the process that is behind this chain reaction: cavitation. This is a hydrodynamic affect that is similar to boiling (as far as the formation of bubbles is concerned), but which occurs when the pressure in a liquid drops.

Far from being just an interesting trick, this research may have very serious applications. "One of applications is the prediction of the quantity of gasses produced by the eruption of a volcano," indicates another of the researchers, Daniel Fuster, of the Institute D'Alembert. In fact, in 1986, Lake Nyos in Cameroon, which lies on top of a volcano, released between 100,000 and 300,000 tons of CO 2 in an explosion-like phenomenon. The gas expanded at a speed of 100 km/h, expelling the oxygen in a 25-kilometer radius, causing 1,700 fatalities among the population and killing thousands of animals due to asphyxiation.

Understanding the phenomenon of cavitation may lead to the improvement in the design of boat propellers (which are highly exposed to erosion caused by bubbles), to the optimization of the protection of structures from explosions or certain shock waves, or it may favor chemical reactions through bubble implosion, point out the researchers. "This is one of the great advantages of basic research," concludes Rodríguez. "You learn low-cost physics in the laboratory, with systems that are as simple as a bottle of beer, and this can later help you to understand and attempt to solve other important problems."

###

Further information:

Why does a beer bottle foam up after a sudden impact on its mouth? Javier Rodríguez-Rodríguez, Almudena Casado, Daniel Fuster arXiv:1310.3747 [physics.flu-dyn]. Submitted on 14 Oct 2013.

American Physical Society. 66th Annual Meeting. Sunday, November 24 – Tuesday, November 26, 2013. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania http://www.apsdfd2013.pitt.edu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCnbs0NXF_4

END



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Infectious diseases experts issue guidance on health-care personnel attire

2014-01-21
Infectious diseases experts issue guidance on health-care personnel attire Recommendations to help prevent health-care-associated infections transmitted through clothing New guidance from the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA) ...

Radiation before surgery more than doubles mesothelioma survival: UHN study

2014-01-21
Radiation before surgery more than doubles mesothelioma survival: UHN study (TORONTO, Canada – January 20, 2014) – Results of clinical research that treated mesothelioma with radiation before surgery show the three-year survival rate more than doubled for ...

Gay-straight alliances in schools reduce suicide risk for all students

2014-01-21
Gay-straight alliances in schools reduce suicide risk for all students Canadian schools with explicit anti-homophobia interventions such as gay-straight alliances (GSAs) may reduce the odds of suicidal thoughts and attempts among both sexual minority ...

Childhood obesity can only be tackled with broad public health interventions

2014-01-21
Childhood obesity can only be tackled with broad public health interventions Public health researchers from the University of Manchester have found single dietary interventions are not effective at increasing fruit and vegetable consumption among overweight ...

A 21st century adaptation of the Miller-Urey origin of life experiments

2014-01-21
A 21st century adaptation of the Miller-Urey origin of life experiments A safe approach to investigating how organic molecules could come about from inorganic compounds Today, January 21, JoVE, the Journal of Visualized Experiments, published a ...

Peekaboo... I see through!

2014-01-21
Peekaboo... I see through! MIT team develops a new, inexpensive transparent projection screen Picture the Louvre pyramid: the iconic glass pyramid that serves as main entrance and skylight to the landmark museum. The pyramid ...

Turkeys inspire smartphone-capable early warning system for toxins

2014-01-21
Turkeys inspire smartphone-capable early warning system for toxins Berkeley — Some may think of turkeys as good for just lunch meat and holiday meals. But bioengineers at the University of California, Berkeley, saw inspiration in the big birds for a new ...

Virginia Tech researcher develops energy-dense sugar battery

2014-01-21
Virginia Tech researcher develops energy-dense sugar battery 'Sugar is a perfect energy storage compound in nature,' Y.H. Percival Zhang said. 'So it's only logical that we try to harness this natural power in an environmentally friendly way to produce a battery.' A Virginia Tech ...

Probability of blindness from glaucoma has nearly halved

2014-01-21
Probability of blindness from glaucoma has nearly halved Researchers cite advances in diagnosis and therapy as likely causes for reduction; caution that a significant proportion of devastating eye disease sufferers still progress to blindness SAN FRANCISCO ...

Source of Galapagos eruptions is not where models place it

2014-01-21
Source of Galapagos eruptions is not where models place it University of Oregon study finds plume to the southeast, explaining active volcanic activity in the islands EUGENE, Ore. -- Images gathered by University of Oregon scientists using seismic waves penetrating ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Less intensive works best for agricultural soil

Arctic rivers project receives “national champion” designation from frontiers foundation

Computational biology paves the way for new ALS tests

Study offers new hope for babies born with opioid withdrawal syndrome

UT, Volkswagen Group of America celebrate research partnership

New Medicare program could dramatically improve affordability for cancer drugs – if patients enroll

Are ‘zombie’ skin cells harmful or helpful? The answer may be in their shapes

University of Cincinnati Cancer Center presents research at AACR 2025

Head and neck, breast, lung and survivorship studies headline Dana-Farber research at AACR Annual Meeting 2025

AACR: Researchers share promising results from MD Anderson clinical trials

New research explains why our waistlines expand in middle age

Advancements in muon detection: Taishan Antineutrino Observatory's innovative top veto tracker

Chips off the old block

Microvascular decompression combined with nerve combing for atypical trigeminal neuralgia

Cutting the complexity from digital carpentry

Lung immune cell type “quietly” controls inflammation in COVID-19

Fiscal impact of expanded Medicare coverage for GLP-1 receptor agonists to treat obesity

State and sociodemographic trends in US cigarette smoking with future projections

Young adults drive historic decline in smoking

NFCR congratulates Dr. Robert C. Bast, Jr. on receiving the AACR-Daniel D. Von Hoff Award for Outstanding Contributions to Education and Training in Cancer Research

Chimpanzee stem cells offer new insights into early embryonic development

This injected protein-like polymer helps tissues heal after a heart attack

FlexTech inaugural issue launches, pioneering interdisciplinary innovation in flexible technology

In Down syndrome mice, 40Hz light and sound improve cognition, neurogenesis, connectivity

Methyl eugenol: potential to inhibit oxidative stress, address related diseases, and its toxicological effects

A vascularized multilayer chip reveals shear stress-induced angiogenesis in diverse fluid conditions

AI helps unravel a cause of Alzheimer's disease and identify a therapeutic candidate

Coalition of Autism Scientists critiques US Department of Health and Human Services Autism Research Initiative

Structure dictates effectiveness, safety in nanomedicine

Mission accomplished for the “T2T” Hong Kong Bauhinia Genome Project

[Press-News.org] The scientific explanation of why beer overflows