Seminars & Colloquia Calendar

Tears of wine are an age-old phenomenon in which alcohol evaporation can lead to an effect in which wine seems to effortlessly climb up the side of a glass leading to "tears" that fall back down.  Rigorous scientific studies of this problem date back several decades however these works have focused on patterning effects at the meniscus and related issues. I will discuss theory and experimental work on the actual tears of wine phenomenon in a "social drinking" context involving a pre-wet glass.

This can be seen as a special undercompressive shock wave in the thin film of the wine glass that only occurs when surface tension, alcohol evaporation, and gravity are in balance.  I will review the mathematical theory and present experimental data.