Researchers from Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) have found why and how beer transforms from a liquid to a foamy state when received an impact and acts like a nuclear explosion.
According to the study, which was carried out in collaboration with the Institute Jean le Rond D'Alembert and the Universite Pierre et Marie Curie, the foam appears because of high concentration of carbon dioxide in carbonated beverages.
The process of foam formation is explained in three phases. Initially expansion and compression waves appear which then advance inside the liquid and cause the gas cavities (bubbles) to burst at the bottom of the bottle.
In the second phase, small balls of foam are formed because the bubbles break into even smaller ones.
Finally, because of their less weight than the liquid surrounding them, these bubbles move to the surface so rapidly that the final result is similar to an explosion.
UC3M thermal and fluids engineering department professor Javier Rodríguez said: "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."
Image: Researchers found how beer transforms from a liquid to a foamy state. Photo courtesy of Universidad Carlos III de Madrid.
