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2 Sinking Bubbles
A long time subject of bar conversations has been the observation that gas bubbles will travel downwards in a pint glass of Guinness. This legendary phenomenon used to be considered scientifically impossible and the observation of it was thought to be an illusion and a consequence of drinking one too many. However, it has recently been scientifically proven to be true: Gas bubbles really do descend in a Guinness pint glass. [1] [2] [3] While ordinary gases, being lighter than water (and Guinness beer), wouldn't normally travel downwards, researcher's use of a high speed camera has proven that the bubbles visible in a pint glass of Guinness really do.
While there are different ways to recount what is happening, one way to explain the phenomenon is this: Due to ordinary rules of liquid behaviour, liquids will flow slower near a wall, mainly because of drag. So with Guinness, bubbles nearer to the edge of the glass, to start with, could (at best) only ascend slower than the ones in in the middle of the glass. Bubbles in center are not hindered by as much drag and will immediately rise much faster. As the rising bubbles drag liquid with them, a column of rising Guinness beer is formed in the middle.
However, as nature abhors a vacuum, some liquid has to travel downwards to replace the liquid travelling up. The liquid near the edge (which was slower rising to start with) thus gets sucked downwards, establishing a circular current, with liquid (containing lots of bubbles) rising in the middle and liquid (also containing some bubbles) travelling downwards near the wall of the actual glass. Because Guinness is a dark, mostly opaque liquid, all the bubbles an observer will see from the outside are bubbles travelling downwards.
3 Book of Records
The Guinness company also produced the Guinness Book of Records, which originated in 1955 when a bar debate could not be settled with existing reference books. After merger with the firms of Arthur Bell and United Distillers, the resulting Guinness PLC, no longer headed by a family member, combined with Grand Metropolitan to form Diageo PLC and the Book of Records was among the operations sold. Its new owner, Gullane Entertainment, was purchased in 2002 by Hit Entertainment.
4 History of Ownership
The grandson of the original Arthur Guinness , Sir Benjamin Guinness, was Lord Mayor of Dublin and was created a baronet in 1867 and died the next year. His eldest son Arthur, Baron Ardilaun (1840-1915), sold control of the brewery to Sir Benjamin's third son Edward (1847-1927), who became 1st Earl of Iveagh. He and his son and great-grandson the 2nd and 3rd Earls chaired the Guinness company into the 1980s, at which time non-family chief executive Ernest Saunders became chairman as part of the merger with leading Scotch whisky producer United Distillers . After Saunders was forced out following revelations that the United stock price had been illegally manipulated, the family presence on the board declined rapidly, and today no Guinness sits on the board of the holding company Diageo PLC.
5 See also
- McInnes (Scottish clan of the same origin)
6 External links and references
Brands of beer
Brewers and Breweries
Food Companies of Ireland
