# Direction of wine swirling. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 1, 2011, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/direction-of-wine-swirling/591055 "2011-08-01T15:43:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2011, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/direction-of-wine-swirling/591055/61 "2011-08-09T02:32:44Z")
[quote=“Gary “Wombat” Robson, post:44, topic:591055”] You can actually deal with this problem by not swirling. If you wish to release the aroma, simply place a straw in the wine and blow some bubbles. Then sniff deeply. If you inhale a bubble, so much the better. Works fine in both hemispheres, and for left-handed people, too. 😃 [/QUOTE] In both brain hemispheres, too. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2011, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/direction-of-wine-swirling/591055/62 "2011-08-09T02:35:02Z")
Long day staring at a computer screen. I misread the title as ‘Direction of **swine whirling**.’ ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2011, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/direction-of-wine-swirling/591055/63 "2011-08-09T12:43:45Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Long day staring at a computer screen. > > I misread the title as ‘Direction of **swine whirling**.’ Gotta be careful doing that. Once those swine molecules star depolarizing, the smell is awful. It’s enough to make large, I’ll-behaved canids huff and puff. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/direction-of-wine-swirling/591055/64 "2011-08-10T03:25:24Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Long day staring at a computer screen. > > I misread the title as ‘Direction of **swine whirling**.’ Heh. Sounds like Texas barn dances. ---
**Author:** ![lazybratsche](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ba8739/32.png) [@lazybratsche](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lazybratsche)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2011, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/direction-of-wine-swirling/591055/65 "2011-08-11T19:07:23Z")
Heh heh heh it’s going viral. Derek Lowe, chemist blogger extroardinaire, [has chipped in](http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/2011/08/11/in_which_we_learn_lots_about_wine_swirling.php). ---
**Author:** ![paiute](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ac8455/32.png) [@paiute](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/paiute)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2011, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/direction-of-wine-swirling/591055/66 "2011-08-11T19:52:09Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > Just for the record, this at least is true. Water molecules have a negative charge on one side, and 2 positive charges on the other. Positive attracts negative, so water molecules stick together. > > [Water (previous version) | Chemistry | Visionlearning](http://www.visionlearning.com/library/module_viewer.php?mid=57) > [http://www.wwnorton.com/college/chemistry/gilbert2/tutorials/chapter\_10/water\_h\_bond/](http://www.wwnorton.com/college/chemistry/gilbert2/tutorials/chapter_10/water_h_bond/) > [http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultranet/BiologyPages/H/HydrogenBonds.html](http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultranet/BiologyPages/H/HydrogenBonds.html) > > The rest is hogwash, though. Yes, water forms clusters around ions, around proteins, around anything in solution which is charged. But the time a water molecule spends in the cluster is measured in femtoseconds. > **[Water cluster](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_cluster)** > > In chemistry, a water cluster is a discrete hydrogen bonded assembly or cluster of molecules of water. Many such clusters have been predicted by theoretical models (in silico), and some have been detected experimentally in various contexts such as ice, bulk liquid water, in the gas phase, in dilute mixtures with non-polar solvents, and as water of hydration in crystal lattices. The simplest example is the water dimer (H2O)2. > Water clusters have been proposed as an explanation for some anomalous... “For context, a femtosecond is to a second, what a second is to about 31.7 million years.” > **[Femtosecond](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Femtosecond)** > > A femtosecond is a unit of time in the International System of Units (SI) equal to 10−15 or .mw-parser-output .frac{white-space:nowrap}.mw-parser-output .frac .num,.mw-parser-output .frac .den{font-size:80%;line-height:0;vertical-align:super}.mw-parser-output .frac .den{vertical-align:sub}.mw-parser-output .sr-only{border:0;clip:rect(0,0,0,0);clip-path:polygon(0px 0px,0px 0px,0px 0px);height:1px;margin:-1px;overflow:hidden;padding:0;position:absolute;width:1px}1⁄1 000 000 000 000 000 of a second;... So if you drink really, really, really quickly you might taste those clusters. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/direction-of-wine-swirling/591055.md?page=3)