Beer lake freezes in German city

Posted Wed Dec 31, 2008 7:00am AEDT

A busy intersection in the German city of Kassel turned into a lake of frozen beer when some 1,600 bottles smashed after poorly secured crates flew off a delivery truck, police said.

The truck, carrying 12 tonnes of freshly brewed beer, lost most of its load on a sharp left-hand turn at the bottom of a hill, according to Kassel police inspector Wolfgang Jungnitsch.

Nearly 80 crates carrying about 800 litres flew off the truck, most of the bottles smashed, and their contents quickly froze in the chilly temperature of about minus 4 degrees Celsius, he said.

"A sheet of ice quickly formed and the air was filled with beer fumes," Inspector Jungnitsch added.

It took an hour to clear the intersection, and police said the trucker faced a fine for not securing his load properly.

Source

The mind boggles as to the implications. Imagine what would happen if it happened in Thailand, (the accident) the lake would not freeze.

What a waste of beer.

You could eat a beer popsicle!

Is that how Foosters Ice was invented. Cos it sure does taste like lake water.

Shows the remarkably low alcohol content if it freezes at -4C.

An interesting intellectual exercise for the smartarses on the board.

Draw a graph showing how much the freezing point of water is lowered by the addition of pure alcohol in 1% increments.

(Don't forget to factor in windchill).

Call me dumb but.... the freezing point of water is the same as it has always been, salinity makes a difference, slightly.

Stick a bottle of beer in the freezer..... the alcohol doesn't turn solid.... if memory serves you have to get it below minus 100 degrees for that to happen, the water content freezes, but the alcohol doesn't....... this story says what happens .....

"A sheet of ice quickly formed and the air was filled with beer fumes," Inspector Jungnitsch added.

I wonder why..... it's not rocket surgery.

Call me dumb but.... the freezing point of water is the same as it has always been, salinity makes a difference, slightly.

Stick a bottle of beer in the freezer..... the alcohol doesn't turn solid.... if memory serves you have to get it below minus 100 degrees for that to happen, the water content freezes, but the alcohol doesn't....... this story says what happens .....

"A sheet of ice quickly formed and the air was filled with beer fumes," Inspector Jungnitsch added.

I wonder why..... it's not rocket surgery.

it appears to be solid as the alcohol molecules are trapped between the water ones. in this connection a fact which is not known to most people.

liquids canNOT be compressed, but why does 1 liter pure alcohol to which one liter of distilled water is added yield a volume of LESS than two liters?

Of course you can compress a liquid.... you can compress anything given the right amount of force.

But compression is not the answer to that question is it?

liquids canNOT be compressed, but why does 1 liter pure alcohol to which one liter of distilled water is added yield a volume of LESS than two liters?

Tighter hydrogen bonding between ethanol and water than between ethanol and ethanol.

Of course you can compress a liquid.... you can compress anything given the right amount of force. But compression is not the answer to that question is it?

obviously you missed the classes when physics was lectured the answer to the question is that water and alcohol molecules interlink and it seems that the basic law "liquids cannot be compressed" is broken. that means in a closed container beer freezes and does not release (as quoted) "fumes". you can try that with a bottle of beer in your freezer but watch out that the bottle does not break due to the ice expanding. get it to a partly frozen point. when you open the bottle you will neither smell any "beer fumes" nor will the remaining liquid content be only alcohol.

"Liquids can flow. This is because the particles can move past each other. Liquids will not keep any shape because the particles are always moving around and changing places. They will take up the shape of the container they are in. Liquids cannot be compressed because the particles are already very close together."

http://www.apqj64.dsl.pipex.com/sfa/slg_structure.htm

liquids canNOT be compressed, but why does 1 liter pure alcohol to which one liter of distilled water is added yield a volume of LESS than two liters?

Tighter hydrogen bonding between ethanol and water than between ethanol and ethanol.

the reason is not really a "tighter bonding" but the different molecular structure of water and alcohol (one molecule fits partly into the other) which reduces the volume. see my posting above.

I assumed it was because the researcher drank some of the alcohol while mixing.

Of course you can compress a liquid.... you can compress anything given the right amount of force. But compression is not the answer to that question is it?

obviously you missed the classes when physics was lectured

Sorry but, I attended them all, hence the second line of my post that you quoted.

BTW, you can compress a liquid, is "very close together' a scientific measurement?

Of course you can compress a liquid.... you can compress anything given the right amount of force. But compression is not the answer to that question is it?

obviously you missed the classes when physics was lectured

Sorry but, I attended them all, hence the second line of my post that you quoted.

BTW, you can compress a liquid, is "very close together' a scientific measurement?

no it's not. i just selected randomly from Google keywords "liquids cannot be compressed". the reason why i used Google is that you won't believe me even if i told you that i hold a doctorate in physics (an expanded D.Sc. not a compressed Ph.D.)

for more information and evidence that liquids cannot be compressed you might want to read about "principles of hydraulics"

for more information and evidence that liquids cannot be compressed you might want to read about "principles of hydraulics"

I didn't google, I asked a passing black hole, and he was fairly confident that he could do it

for more information and evidence that liquids cannot be compressed you might want to read about "principles of hydraulics"

I didn't google, I asked a passing black hole, and he was fairly confident that he could do it

that's a long shot but in theory somewhere in space a condition might exist that really compresses liquids. anyway, beer should not be compressed but enjoyed well chilled sip by sip

Agreed

I've forgotten what it tastes like. Must be ten weeks now.

Well I must be unique. I compress vast quantities of beer into my little tiny gut on a nightly basis. Agreed a black hole does come into play, specially after a curry on the way home.

So what's the answer then? Can we, or can we not, compress liquids?

They can't ( except Thaddy )...................I can, and so can my mate Alan.

They can't ( except Thaddy )...................I can, and so can my mate Alan.

Could you compress my Chocolate Digestive please, so i can dunk it in my compressed coffee. Thanks in advance

As Gloria Estafan once said " I will do anything for you................."

(she also did a lot of jiggling about before she hurt her back. Can't do that sort of thing i'm afraid)

if you could jiggle in slow motion, that would suffice.

So what's the answer then? Can we, or can we not, compress liquids?

Yes you can, but the amount of pressure you have to exert to notice even a minimal change is enormous.

I was just being pedantic with the good doctor.

So what's the answer then? Can we, or can we not, compress liquids?

Yes you can, but the amount of pressure you have to exert to notice even a minimal change is enormous.

I was just being pedantic with the good doctor.

Looking after his feet was very noble of you

Pedantrics is the care of children you dolt.

Children with bad feet, I think you'll find Charles !!!

I must have had bad feet as a child, my Mum was always telling me to "get and wash those rotten feet".

I always thought that pedants taught Latin grammar.