In Videos: Raisin Dancing in Champagne
If you have a flute of Champagne and a raisin and you're really bored, you can plop the raisin into the glass and watch it "dance." This movement is due to the repeating accumulation (causing the raisin to rise) and loss (causing the raisin to drop) of carbon dioxide bubbles on the raisin's irregular surface.
The first time I saw this trick was on the first day of my 7th grade science class, when my teacher showed us a glass of translucent yellow-greenish liquid containing a few dark, bouncing blobs. She insisted it was a glass of urine with swimming bugs in it. While she was probably trying to teach us some kind of scientific property (besides see how gullible 7th graders are), most of us were distracted by the "urine and ants" thing. Thankfully, it was just Mountain Dew with raisins in it. The lessons of the story were that raisins dance in carbonated liquids, and you shouldn't always trust your teachers.
Watch the video of the raisin in the Champagne after the jump.
Raisin Dancing in Champagne
[via Neatorama]
Explanation of the Dancing/Diving Raisins
Add a comment:
Previewing your comment:
HTML Hints
Some HTML is OK: <a href="URL">link</a>, <strong>strong</strong>, <em>em</em>
Comment Guidelines
Post whatever you want, just keep it seriously about eats, seriously. We reserve the right to delete off-topic or inflammatory comments. Learn more at our Comment Policy page.
If you see something not so nice, please, report an inappropriate comment.
4 Comments:
Boston Beerworks by Fenway Park sometimes adds fresh blueberries to their blueberry beer. It's a poor man's lava lamp.
shoneyjoe at 12:45PM on 09/08/08
I used to make sake in a 5 gallon water bottle using brown rice and sugar. I'd always throw in a few raisins. they'd bubble away merrily for a while, and when they stopped dancing I'd know it was time to bottle the wine.
pcbaga at 1:45PM on 09/08/08
I like to watch the lemon seeds dance in my hefeweizen. good way to pass time on a bad date.
brittj8585 at 3:21PM on 09/08/08
@shoneyjoe: That's the only beer I ever order at Boston Beerworks. I don't know about sometimes...they've always added it for me. If they didn't, I'd probably ask for my money back.
wunami at 9:20PM on 09/08/08