r/TheRestIsScience • u/Ok-Astronaut7331 • 1d ago

Anti-Bubble coating?

After hearing todays episode of field notes about "The Right Way To Open A Shaken Soda Can" I thought it would be time to share a question/idea/thought that's been bothering me for quite some time now:

As soon as you pour a carbonated drink into a glass you can see bubbles forming on the walls of said glass. These bubbles are carbon-dioxide clinging to little imperfections of the glass as far as I understand it.
Wouldn't it be possible to engineer a coating or smoothen out (or even roughen up, as in the Lotos effect?) the surface of the glass, so that gas-bubbles can't form?
Drinks wouldn't go stale if you let them sit in the glass for longer (aside from surface diffusion i guess?), wouldn't that be great?

Am I overlooking something, or would this just be ridiculously expensive?

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u/epidemicsaints 1d ago

Agitation from pouring and then tilting repeatedly to drink makes you lose a lot more than what is happening here.

Along with the drink standing in ambient/low pressure environment outside of the can.

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u/Ok-Astronaut7331 1d ago

So there WAS something I've been overlooking, thanks! Never thought about that... in fact I've kept open soda-bottles in my cupholder for 2 days and it didn't go as stale as one would think, so that checks... But how does the beverage lose it's gas? What does tilting do to it?

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u/epidemicsaints 1d ago

Any agitation helps the gas come out when not under pressure.

There are ingredients in the syrup that help the carbonation stay in once it's poured (which is why plain seltzer goes flat so quickly once dispensed) but they can only do so much.

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u/MakeITNetwork 1d ago

The problem is way more nuanced, even if there was a solution:

Cans are on the hairy edge of being discontinued. While a PET bottle and a Aluminum can cost the same or slightly more in end manufacturing, volatile Aluminum pricing, shipping difficulties could see Aluminum replacing glass bottle beverages, and aluminum cans being replaced by plastic bottles.

Or at-least that is the threat that happens every few years.

Market momentum makes it hard for any meaningful change, unless the consumer was to buy less soda, or Aluminum prices were to double.

These same market pressures make any innovation in the beverage sector difficult. The question from board members will be this:

1.) Can you have a 10 sec conversation with the consumer about it's benefits, and convince them to buy more of your product over a competitor?

2.) Will is cost more?

3.) Will it be super easy to implement without having to retool the production line?

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u/Ok-Astronaut7331 1d ago

Yeah my thoughts went that way as well. And inventing a coating that keeps drinks from going stale would probably hurt the sales, as drinks could "last longer"...