Super Science Thursday- Beer Streamers

Super Science Thursday- odd ramblings on science topics. A new topic appears every Thursday (that's why it's called SS Thursday)

Where do beer streamers come from?
Beer is a lovely liquid that gives many men the ability to dance, or at least try. Beer also offers several lessons in science. Pour beer into a glass and watch the bubbles form. The bubbles will form beer streamers, tiny rising rivers of bubbles that will originate from a few points inside the glass. Their mesmerizing dance as they rise to the surface captures our attention. What causes them and why do they rise?
The bubbles are formed when carbon dioxide molecules begin to form invisible microbubbles at imperfections on the inside wall of the glass, or possibly at dirt particles inside the glass. Once enough of these microbubbles join forces, they will begin their hypnotic rise to the surface. These imperfections are in the glass are called nucleation points. The bubbles actually grow in size as they rise since the pressure from the liquid decreases. And of course, the bubbles rise because they are gas, which is less dense than the liquid. The same observation can be seen in champagne and clear sodas. The formation of these bubbles is similar to clouds forming by water vapor condensing around dust particles.
An interesting note, beer bubbles rise slower than champagne bubbles. This was first studied by Leonardo DaVinci in the 1600’s as he studied bubbles rising in various liquids. The streams of bubbles will cease when the beer becomes flat. The study of beer bubbles would be a perfectly reasonable graduate school topic. I mean if DaVinci could get away with it, we ought to be able to. You could even get a PhD in Physics someday by studying rising beer bubbles. You can even see a rarer phenomenon, falling bubbles of beer, if you drink enough……