Tired of spilling your coffee? Try a latte instead, scientists say
- Amina Khan for LA Times February 24th, 2015
- Source: http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-coffee-latte-spill-slosh-physics-20150224-story.html
If you’ve ever had your coffee suddenly slosh out of the drinking hole or over the cup rim and onto your pants, you know the struggle. But according to a team of physicists, there’s an easy solution: Buy a nice, foamy latte instead.
The findings, described in the journal Physics of Fluids, show that a thin layer of foam over a moving liquid’s surface can dramatically cut down the slosh. The discovery could be useful for far more than just coffee, such as providing ideas for alternative ways to safely transport enormous containers of oil and gas.