The secret lives of liquids

Next time you travel in a transatlantic flight think about the dangerous and delightful substances that flow through our lives, as we all know without water we couldn’t survive and sometimes even a cup of coffee or a glass of wine feels just a vital.

Mark Miodownik, in his latest book , Liquid, gives a scientific study about a routine transatlantic flight on British Airways and  encounters  en route from Heathrow to San Francisco and learn the scientific background behind the prodigious propulsive power packed into the kerosene that fuels his plane, the intoxicating impact of the wines from the drinks trolley,the disgusting flavour of BA Tea, the adhesive strength of the glues that hold the aircraft together, liquid crystal display on which he watches the in flight movies, the wind-whipped waves on the ocean surface 40,000 ft below him.

The pre-flight briefing is not really about safety – the eventualities mentioned, such as landing on water, are so rare that you would be extremely unlikely to experience then if you flew everyday for lifetime. It is trust ceremony, and global ritual supported by props such Oxygen masks, life jackets and seat belts, to deliver the message that you are about to do something intrinsically very dangerous which engineers and air crew have made almost completely safe.

 

As he sips the 14 per cent alcohol red wine, he reflects on the  Marangoni effect the formation of tears or legs as the liquid flows back down the glass. Wine clings to the side of the glass because the alcohol reduces surface tension, as alcohol evaporates it leaves behind a residual liquid that is more aqueous and so has more surface tension, leading to tears.

As the headache sets in he watches a Spider-Man film and then takes a nap. The sleep ends as he woken by a women in the neighbouring seat – whom he does not know but call Susan – pushes his head away from shoulder on which it was resting. He wakes up abruptly to see unwanted liquid  “ A thin line of drool had escaped my mouth and was hanging on to Susan’s sleeve.”

Miodownik drinks no more alcohol but makes the wrong choice when offered coffee or tea by choosing the latter.  He writes “ The tea tasted like a warm cup of float Coke, but without the sweetness, and adds milk from the little plastic tub which make it taste even disgusting.

Filling the US customs form is his final act before the descent into San Francisco,  which prompts how ball point pens and their work refuses work, and lends his long-suffering silent fellow passenger Susan, lending her his pen to complete her form.

  

Liquid: The Delightful and Dangerous Substances that flow Through Our Lives by Mark Miodownik Viking £16.99, 288 pages