Experiments like this might have kept me in the hard sciences in college!
Beer Foam Riddle Solved (AFP, via Brothers Judd)
April 25, 2007 — There is the nagging question of whether life exists other than on Earth. The enduring mystery of who made us — and why.
And then there is this: Why does the foam on a pint of lager quickly disappear but the head on a pint of Guinness linger?
Answers to questions 1 and 2 are still being sought, but the Great Beer Riddle, at least, may soon be solved.
Writing in the prestigious British science journal Nature, an elite scientific duo say they have devised an equation to describe beer froth.
The breakthrough will not only settle the vexatious lager vs. stout debate, it will also help the quest to pour a perfect pint every time.
Beer foam is a microstructure with complex interfaces. In other words: a cellular structure comprising networks of gas-filled bubbles separated by liquid.
The walls of these bubbles move as a result of surface tension — and the speed at which they move is related to the curvature of the bubbles. As a result of this movement, the bubbles merge and the structure "coarsens," meaning that the foam settles and eventually disappears.
Three-dimensional equations to calculate the movement have been made by Robert MacPherson, a mathematician at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, and David Srolovitz, a physicist at Yeshiva University, New York.
Outstanding work, gentlemen.
I certainly hope that during the research, the beers involved in the experiment were consumed, rather than wasted.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/25/07 22:05 | Other | Technorati
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Comments
I wonder if they need human test subjects for their continuing research...
Posted by Tom Hanna @ 02:16 on 04/26/07
I can't believe they didn't mention the fact that Guinness is "carbonated" with N2 in addition to CO2. They can write 3D equations and still miss the obvious. Nitrogen produces smaller bubbles than does CO2. Eggheads... what are you gonna do with 'em?
Posted by The Dude @ 07:40 on 04/26/07
...sadly, the foam on a pitcher/single-serving mug of Bud Light seems to last forever and impede quick consumption of such, as some of us were recently reminded, because of a barmaid who couldn't distinguish between "Miller" and "Bud"...
Posted by The R Man @ 11:01 on 04/27/07
Yeah, but how could you utilitize your little tinker-toy benzene-ring model thing (oh, yes, groupies, he had one. He was briefly THAT much of a nerd until beer and I got to him) in the experiment?
Posted by -jhh- @ 08:46 on 04/28/07
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