How many bubbles are there in a glass of champagne?
Two attempts (that I know of) have been made to count/calculate the number of bubbles in a bottle of Champagne (Yes, there are clearly people with too much time on their hands!). The estimates differ greatly, but both will surprise you. 1. As he was opening a bottle of Champagne last summer, scientist Bill Lembeck speculated on how many bubbles would soon come bursting to life. Having realized that there would probably not be the same number of bubbles in every bottle, Bill Lembeck decided that he would be satisfied with a reasonable estimate. He then determined that essentially all he had to do was calculate the volume of CO2 in a 750 ml bottle of Champagne and divide this number by the volume of an average bubble. Putting aside such questions as whether all the bubbles are the same size, and the impact of temperature on the size of the escaping bubble, Lembeck doggedly attacked the problem in a systematic way. First, he established that the average pressure in a Champagne bottle was
