why does tapping the top of a beer bottle with another beer bottle cause it to overflow?

Question

i got inspired to ask this after watching the latest 'man-table' commercial for one of the beer companies.

Answer 1

the other answers are only slightly correct.

dissolved gas ( CO2) in the beer ( esp cold beer ! ) exist in a state known as "hypersolubility". this is an unstable state where more gas than normal is dissolved in the liquid than normal equilibrium would allow.

this unstable condition will stabilize if energy ( e.g. shock ) is applied to the system. this stabilization process involves the gas coming out of solution to escape the liquid !

you see it as an overflow .

i apologize if the answer seems to technical but unfortunately it is the only accurate way of describing what you wanted.

:)

Answer 2

By striking the top of the beer bottle you create a high frequency vibration.
The vibration can't be heard (just like you can't hear the high frequency sound
emitted from a dog whistle.) The vibration causes changes in the pressure of
the beer, which directly effect the solubility of the dissolved CO2 in the
beer. The insoluble CO2 rapidly expands and causes the beer to gush. You can
look up rarefaction in a Physics book for a more detailed explanation of the
phenomenon. If you have access to an ultrasonic cleaner in your chemistry
laboratory you can demonstrate the effect by adding some beer to a beaker and
placing the beaker in the water of the ultrasonic cleaner. When you turn on the
cleaner the ultrasonic vibrations cause the same type of pressure changes in
the beer, which also result in a gusher. Another experiment to demostrate the
effect of pressure on CO2 solubility is to place the beaker in a bell jar and
put it under a vacuum. The vacuum drastically reduces the pressure of the beer
and changes the solubility of the CO2, also causing a gusher. I will also pass
along a little advice to you. By striking the top of someone's beer bottle you
could cause a small piece of glass to fall into the beer. This could have
serious consequences if the glass is swallowed. With that said I must also
admit that I also did some equally stupid things in college. I hope that you
can also survive the college experience when your brain goes into vapor lock.
Toss back a cold one for me!!

Answer 3

i individually have never viewed this yet i could asume whether it fairly is authentic then it may be simply by fact the backside one grew to become into the single that grew to become into being given the rigidity. the suitable one that hit the backside one grew to become into meant to supply rigidity, the backside one wastaking each and every of the rigidity. it fairly is like if somebody punches you on your face why does your face injury yet not their hand? simply by fact their hand hit your face not your face hitting their hand. try taking the backside one and hitting the suitable one from the backside and notice if the suitable one then overflows. If it does then i'm merely right, if not then i'm clueless and that i will try this next time I drink a lager. advantageous question!

Answer 4

the fermentation and form of carbonation cause from the fermentation make it foam... the same as if you had shaken the beer before you opened it or if you go to a keg and have the beer come out it will foam a lot

Answer 5

My guess is the shockwave, or harmonics from the glass to glass causes a little beer tsunami.