APS tip sheet: Understanding the tears of wine

Sometimes in a glass of wine, liquid can appear to climb the side of the glass, forming “tears” that slide back down into the wine. Now, researchers have created a new hydrodynamic model to better account for wine tears’ fluid dynamics. The model shows that a combination of fluid physics, including gravity, surface tension, and changes in surface tension induced by alcohol evaporation, can lead to complex fluid structures resulting in wine tears.

Theory for undercompressive shocks in tears of wine

by Yonatan Dukler, Hangjie Ji, Claudia Falcon, and Andrea L. Bertozzi

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