IE 11 Not Supported

For optimal browsing, we recommend Chrome, Firefox or Safari browsers.

How many bubbles are in a glass of beer?

Answer: A whole lot.

Beer being poured into a glass.
Shutterstock/NaturalBox
It’s amazing the kinds of random, and yet very interesting, things that technology can help us humans discover. Until now, we probably couldn’t even guess at how many bubbles were in a glass of beer (although that probably would have made for a fun drinking game). Thanks to technology, and some CO2 measurements and number-crunching, scientists have been able to make a very educated guess as to that number.

It’s hardly an exact number, but a research team at France’s University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne has estimated that a half-pint of lager, gently poured, will produce 200,000 to 2 million bubbles before it goes flat. They figured this out thanks to high-speed photography that allowed them to count and track the bubbles. They also used CO2 measurements and examined how the glass affects the formation of the bubbles in order to fine tune their calculations.

Of course these numbers will change depending on the type of beer, the glass, how it was poured, etc. But now you have a new fun fact to wow your friends with whenever we can go to bars again.