My paper on the popping sound of beer bottles got elected as a feature paper by Physics of Fluids in March 2025. It took only 3 days for the news to spread in the public press in Germany, Austria, Netherlands and New York! Maybe you’ve heard of it? A physicist in Göttingen, Germany, investigated the origin of the popping sound?
The latest highlight was that it became a question in the German TV-quiz-show “Wer weiß denn sowas?”. The question was “Where does the typical popping sound when opening a beer bottle with swing-top come from?” The answers to choose were “a) the swing top lid vibrates and excites the glass” and “b) the lid sucks air horizontally over the bottle opening” and “c) the gas in the bottle neck is excited to form a standing wave for a short time”. The correct answer is “C” and the attendees also guessed correctly. Congratulations!
The paper can be downloaded for free here from AIP, since the University of Göttingen funded the Open Access fee in Autumn 2025.
Listen to the podcast of Science Friday in English and watch some of the recorded videos on my youtube channel (embedded see below).
The ARD Audiothek PodCast (in German) also reported nicely about it.