A Straight Dope Classic from Cecil's Storehouse of Human Knowledge
What if I dropped a beer mug off the Empire St. Bldg.?
October 28, 1981
Dear Cecil:
I come to you, the great bet settler and bubble physicist, for the final decision on an argument. What would happen to the bubbles in a beer mug if the mug fell off the top of the Empire State Building? Would the bubbles shoot to the top of the glass, the bottom, or stay motionless?
Dear L.:
The bubbles would remain motionless relative to the mug, since gravity would act uniformly on the fluid surrounding the bubbles--meaning, in short, that there would be no sloshing. You, on the other hand, would be clapped into jail for dropping beer mugs off of office buildings. Leave the daredevil scientific experiments to me.
