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Physics

Physicists have invented a new way to shake a martini

Shaking a martini glass back and forth creates an intricate vortex pattern in the cocktail that takes on a different shape depending on the physical properties of the drink

By Karmela Padavic-Callaghan

9 November 2023

vortices in a Martini glass

Shaking a martini glass produces beautiful whirlpools in the cocktail

Xianyu (Mabel) Song/Zhao Pan

Shaking a drink in a martini glass creates mesmerising patterns of small whirlpools.

Zhao Pan at the University of Waterloo, Canada, was travelling abroad when he ordered a drink in a bar and stumbled upon an intriguing physics discovery. His martini was full of bubbles, and because he was sitting by a window, he could clearly see them trace a complicated structure of vortices when he shook the glass back and forth.

Later, he repeated the process in the lab with…

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