Physicists Explain Why Coffee Is More Prone to Spills Than Beer
- Rachel Nuwer for Smithonian November 17th, 2014
- Source: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/physicists-explain-why-coffee-more-prone-spills-beer-180953346/?no-ist
Coffee simply does not like to stay in place. Restaurant servers soon learn to pour coffee at the table or to carry the poured cup and saucer separately, lest they wind up with a half-empty coffee cup sitting in a pool of spilled liquid.
Beer, however, presents no such challenge. Servers can maneuver through crowds while carrying a fully-loaded tray of beers fresh from the tap and filled to the top—all without spilling so much as a drop.
Both coffee and beer are liquids, however, so why is one of those beverages so much more prone to sloshing over the edge of its cup or glass than the other?
