What’s behind the ‘pop and slosh’ when opening a swing-top bottle of beer?
Peer-Reviewed Publication
Updates every hour. Last Updated: 21-Jun-2025 02:10 ET (21-Jun-2025 06:10 GMT/UTC)
In Physics of Fluids, researchers from the University of Göttingen in Germany decided to use a high-speed camera to capture what occurs while opening a swing-top bottle of beer. They found that the sound emitted by opening a pressurized bottle with a swing-top lid isn’t a single shockwave, but rather a very quick “ah” sound. Their high-speed video recordings captured condensation within the bottleneck that vibrated up and down in a standing wave. After opening the bottle, the dissolved carbon dioxide starts to form inside the beer and triggers the liquid level to rise, causing the sloshing.
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