Re: Super Cold Beer!

[William Beaty <billb@ESKIMO.COM>]

On Tue, 29 Jun 1999, Sam Sampere wrote:

> Beer slushy?  What a GREAT idea!  I think we could make a fortune selling those
> down in San Antonio.  Come to the PIRA Resource Room down in San Antonio, maybe
> we'll be selling them.  If not, you can at least buy a PIRA t-shirt.


Strange coincidence: the above messages parallel a current thread on the
Amateur Science list,  http://www.amasci.com/sci-list/sci-list.html

Here's my messages from yesterday:



Date: Sun, 27 Jun 1999 12:02:30 -0700 (PDT)
From: William Beaty <billb@eskimo.com>
To: sciclub-list@eskimo.com
Subject: Re: bubbles in cola

On Sun, 27 Jun 1999, Fredrick Rea O'Keefe wrote:

> Rumor has it that New York's Ballentine Beer used to add "soap" to their
> brew to make a longer lasting head - their claim to fame. (Or was it
> Rheingold?)

For those who like to take things apart, buy a can of Guinness "draft
style" beer.  (At least I think its Guinness that's the one.)  Inside is a
little plastic chamber that sits on the bottom of the container.  It
contains gas (CO2?  Wouldn't have to be CO2 though.)  When you pop the
tab, the chamber emits tiny bubbles, thus guaranteeing that a "head" will
---------

Date: Sat, 26 Jun 1999 15:02:53 -0700 (PDT)
From: William Beaty <billb@eskimo.com>
To: sciclub-list@eskimo.com
Subject: Re: bubbles in cola

On Sat, 26 Jun 1999, Ian Russell wrote:

> Another observation and question. Why are the bubbles in carbonated spring
> water bigger and more violent that the bubbles in a sweetened drink? Is
> this something to do with the way salt or sugar trigger fizzing when added
> to a drink?

No idea.

One way to think about it: when dissolved, CO2 is not a gas.  In the same
way, dissolved sugar is not a liquid.

Experiment: can we dissolve more salt in water than we can dissolve it in
sugar syrup?  Maybe the presence dissolved sugar somehow decreases the
amount of salt that can be dissolved in the water.  If it does, then it
also probably decreases the amount of CO2 that can be dissolved.

Alternate idea: maybe in the spring water the bubbles pop, but in the cola
they persist like soap-suds.

(Hey, aren't the bubbles in sugar-free cola larger and more violent that
the bubbles in sugar-filled cola?)

Shaving cream is just soapy water under pressure.  If there was a little
bit of detergent in your can of coke, then if you shook it violently
before opening it, you'd get "whipped cola."  All "head" with no liquid.

HEY!  Product idea!  Sell containers of "whipped beer" which have excess
CO2 and maybe a bit of edible surfactant to guarantee a good, solid head.
If it was cheap, bartenders would love it.  Put a high-quality head on a
low-quality beer, which lets you sell *lots less* beer for the same (or
higher?) price because the mug is half full of foam!  Race ya to the
patent office?

Our big "shaving cream" experiment: what happens when a frozen can of
shaving-cream is sliced open and then thawed?  Does it expand into a huge
mass?

We tried this with liquid nitrogen at the last local "weird science"
meeting.  After a *very* long time the can of shaving cream emitted a
large, toothpaste-like cylinder.  It only grew a few times larger than the
volume of the can.  Future experimenters should try using a conventional
freezer.  Freezing the shaving cream in liquid nitrogen makes it take too
long to thaw.

((((((((((((((((((((( ( (  (   (    (O)    )   )  ) ) )))))))))))))))))))))
William J. Beaty                                  SCIENCE HOBBYIST website
billb@eskimo.com                                  http://www.amasci.com
EE/programmer/sci-exhibits          science projects, tesla, weird science
Seattle, WA   206-781-3320          freenrg-L taoshum-L vortex-L webhead-L
Seattle, WA   206-781-3320          freenrg-L taoshum-L vortex-L webhead-L



((((((((((((((((((((( ( (  (   (    (O)    )   )  ) ) )))))))))))))))))))))
William J. Beaty                                  SCIENCE HOBBYIST website
billb@eskimo.com                                  http://www.amasci.com
EE/programmer/sci-exhibits          science projects, tesla, weird science
Seattle, WA   206-781-3320          freenrg-L taoshum-L vortex-L webhead-L