More Beer in the Glass With Physics: How Water-Repellent Coatings Can Reduce Foaming

upstart writes:

More Beer in the Glass With Physics: How Water-Repellent Coatings Can Reduce Foaming:

Foam formation and a long lifetime of the foam is desired for beer in a glass, for example - but foam should be avoided in beer bottling in order to speed up the bottling process. Foam formation is also often undesirable in other industrial processes, especially if it leads to spillages and environmental contamination.

In foams, adjacent air bubbles are separated from each other by a thin film of liquid. To generate and stabilize the foam, surface-active substances such as surfactants, often lipids or proteins are added.

Many liquids, such as beer and soaps, contain such surface-active molecules which stabilize foam. To prevent foaming, additional chemicals must therefore be added, such as oils, waxes, or microparticles. These help neighboring air bubbles to fuse together quickly, causing foam to break down rapidly.

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