Exponential Decay of Beer Foam
Physics Design Lab
11/21/2012
Introduction:
The aim of this investigation is to find the decay constant of beer foam. This practical will revolve around the process of decay of beer foam. When a beer is poured into a glass, the gas in the beer begins to form bubbles, also known as a head. This effect will be maximized by not only using warm beer, but by also pouring the beer fast into the glass. For this experiment, the same brand of canned beer will be used. The bubbles also burst randomly similar to the decay of radioactive nuclei, where the rate of decay of bubbles is proportional to the number of bubbles. Resulting in the equation:
Where:
is the decay constant.
t is the time.(seconds)
N is the number of bubbles.
Equation derived:
However when t = 0 and N =
The value of c =
Research Question:
How does the height of the beer foam, change with time?
Background Information:
When solving this differential equation, another equation is derived:
