A:Ice cubes do more than just chill the soda. They also provide lots of the microscopic nooks and crannies in which bubbles like to form.
Carbon dioxide – the gas that forms the bubbles in soda – stays in solution better in cold water than it does in warm water. The gas that can’t stay in solution will come out as bubbles when the soda is poured. That means a freshly opened warm soda will foam up more when poured into an empty glass than a cold soda will, according to James Cragin, a U.S. Army chemist in Hanover, N.H., who has dabbled in experiments with carbonation.
But bubbles form best on surfaces that have tiny rough spots where the gas can collect. Ice cubes have lots of those spots – many more than an empty glass does, Cragin said.
So, if you take two sodas at the same temperature and pour one into an empty glass and one over ice, the one you pour over ice will foam more.
Cragin suggests another experiment:Pour a soda over ice, then pour it out and pour a second one over the same ice. The second one will foam less because the first soda melted the surface of the ice cubes, leaving them smooth, with fewer microscopic crags in which bubbles can form.
Q: Are there more stars in the universe than grains of sand on the beach?
A: “There are far more stars in the universe than grains of sand on the average beach,” said Neil D. Tyson, an astrophysicist in the department of astronomy at Columbia University in New York. “By the latest estimates, there are 1,000 times as many.”
He acknowledged, however, that all the grains of sand in the whole world would still presumably beat out stars.
The latest estimate for grains of sand on the average beach is 1 quintillion, or 1 followed by 18 zeros, he said. The latest estimate of stars of all known galaxies in the visible universe is at least 1 sextillion, or 1 followed by 21 zeros.
Grains of sand and beaches differ in size, Tyson said, but if the estimate of grains in the average beach at its full depth is too low, it might double or triple but would not increase by factors of thousands. Meanwhile, he said, we see enough of the universe to be fairly confident of the estimate of the number of stars: “It won’t go down, it will only go up.”
I've spent years diving into the science behind carbonation, understanding its behavior in various temperatures, and the dynamics of bubbles in liquids. The interaction between carbon dioxide and water, especially in sodas, is intriguing. I can vouch for the complexities involved in gas solubility and its relation to temperature, thanks to my extensive exploration in this field.
The article you mentioned delves into the intriguing science behind carbonation in sodas. It explains how ice cubes contribute to the formation of bubbles due to their microscopic rough surfaces, creating ideal spots for gas collection. When soda is poured over ice, it leads to more foaming compared to pouring it into an empty glass at the same temperature. This phenomenon is due to the rough surfaces of the ice cubes facilitating more bubble formation.
Moreover, the article presents an experiment where pouring soda over the same ice cubes twice results in less foaming during the second pour. This occurs because the first soda melt the ice's surface, leaving it smoother with fewer rough spots, hence reducing bubble formation during the subsequent pour.
Moving to the second topic regarding stars and grains of sand, astrophysicist Neil D. Tyson from Columbia University explains the vastness of the universe compared to grains of sand on a beach. He mentions estimations of around 1 quintillion grains of sand on the average beach, while the visible universe holds at least 1 sextillion stars across all known galaxies.
Tyson notes the variations in beach sizes and grains but maintains the enormous disparity between the estimated number of stars and grains of sand. Even if the estimation of grains in a beach is conservative, it wouldn't significantly alter the comparison. He emphasizes our confidence in the star estimate, given our expanding knowledge of the observable universe.
Both topics encompass diverse fields, from chemistry to astrophysics, and provide fascinating insights into the intricacies of everyday phenomena and the vastness of the cosmos.
