Kyberneticist, you must stike it against something like a tree to get the right pressure & momentum.
Al & Handy…
Are you saying it’s possible to open a bottle of wine by smacking it against a tree?
I’d really like to know how you do that.
Awright, dammit – two of you have now said that you can remove a fully pushed-on cork from an empty wine bottle using only a napkin.
HOW!?!?!
Sua
I never said anything about smacking a bottle against a tree. I just repeated a story from a semi-reliable source. You know those hydraulic pistons on heavy equipment like front-end loaders…the big piston-like things that raise and lower the blade on a bulldozer? I’m no engineer, but the principle they supposedly work on is this - if you move a fluid from a large diameter tube into a smaller diameter tube the hydraulic pressure is multiplied exponentially. When the hydraulic fluid, or whatever it is, in the heavy equipment is forced into a smaller diameter cylendar the force is strong enough to move tons.
My friend claimed that this force could be replicated in a wine bottle by moving the fluid into the neck of the bottle by shaking the bottle over your shoulder. Reading this thread, it sounds to me like banging the base of the bottle against something soft like a tree might be needed.
I suggest that one of the summer dopefest gatherings pass the hat for a case of cheap plonk and all that talent sitting around socializing be put to good use on Cecilian experimentation. I am also waiting for the napkin-cork trick explanation.
For Sua-
-Push the cork fully into the bottle.
-Take a cloth napkin (or something similar- it must be cloth and can’t be heavy like a towel) and slowly feed about half of it (if you can’t get half then as much as possible) into the bottle.
-Point the mouth of the bottle downwards.
-Slowly pull the towel out. The towel should pull the cork out due to a combination of centrifugal force and the corialis effect. OK, I’m making that part up.
mojo,
sounds good, but how do you prevent the cork from rising to the bottom of the bottle, and having all the wine spiil out over you non-towel-like napkin onto the floor and your hagar wrinkle-free cotton slacks?
jb
JB-
The cork floats in the wine. It will always be on top.
What I saw done was with a paper napkin by a fellow worker. That’s what made it impressive to me.
He twisted the napkin in a cicular fashion, stuck it in the bottle, jiggled it a bit, smiled, and yanked out the cork. The napkin never had a chance to get soggy.
I tried this years later with a cloth napkin at a party I had. Twist the cloth, stick it in the bottle and get the napkin to touch the cork agaisnt the bottle, then yank. It will pop right out.
Your right Al, you didn’t mention the tree part. Someone else did. I just had that mental image in my head and associated it with you. Will you forgive me?
Whoever brought up the hydraulic prinicple, please explain to me how it would work with non-carbonated wine? There has to be a force pushing the cork out, right? What force is there? The fluid alone shouldn’t make a difference with the corked top.
Thanks for the explanation. I’ll give it a try.
Sua
Sue-
First, make sure the cork is at the top of the bottle, it should be if there’s any amount of wine left in the bottle.
With the circular napkin wrapped up, ease it into the top of the bottle. Try and not and hit the cork and sink it. Jimmy the bottle a bit, you’re trying to get the cork to match up with the napkin. Once their together, give a good yank and they’ll both come out.
I didn’t clarify- the trick I knewinvolved getting th cork out of an empty wine bottle. I would like to apologize to any wine-soaked dopers out there.
Cnote.
I alluded to the method in my previous post. Yes it is possible to open a bottle of wine against a tree. yes, it takes a long time. Yes, I have done it myself.
- remove foil covering top of wine bottle (VERY IMPORTANT)
- Find a likely tree, one with a somewhat flattened area is best, such as a palm tree or a regular tree which has lost part of a limb, leaving a circular flat space.
- hold wine bottle (with 2 hands if you are clumsy and apt to drop wine bottles) and hit the bottom of the bottle against the flat space on the tree. Keep the bottom of the bottle as parallel to the strike face as possible to get the maximun force per hit (and reduce the risk of shattering)
4 Repeat. You have to hit it fairly hard, but not violently. The cork will be forced out until you can remove it by hand. IIRC it took about 15 minutes of solid whacking to force out the cork. Whereas against a marble wall it took about 3 minutes, but we also smashed one of the bottles.
I hope this clarifies.
A hypothesis on the original trick (feel free to test):
- The bottle is sealed by a cork held in place by friction.
- The friction can be overcome by increasing the force on bottom of the cork.
- Additional force can be applied to the cork by increasing air pressure in the bottle relative to the outside pressure.
At this point, you can either climb a mountain with the bottle, or you can squeeze the bottle to increase the internal pressure.
So, how do you squeeze a glass bottle? With a towel, of course! This is an extension of a trick I learned by watching a guy roll his own cigarettes. If you roll paper (or a towel) into a cylinder around something, then roll the entire cylinder repeatedly against something flat (your hand or a wall) in a direction such that the last wrap of the material points away from the direction of the rolling motion, the cylinder will become tighter. (Try it: wrap a bit of paper around a pencil, then put it in the palm of your hand with the flap towards you. Use your other palm, held flat, to roll the pencil away from you. The paper will soon become tight enough that you can’t slide it down the pencil.)
Now, if we apply this to the wine bottle and the towel, we can compress the air slowly by squeezing the bottle evenly with the towel. This slight increase in pressure forces the cork out a small amount. When the pressure is released, the cork stays in it’s new position. If you repeat this enough, it should force the cork out.
I will test this as soon as possible–maybe at the Dallas Dopefest this weekend. (Note to self: hold bottle upright.) In the meantime, those of you who’d like to poke holes in this idea: Open fire!
I am corrected RM.
I’m still having a hard time seeing someone out in their backyard smacking a bottle of wine against a tree. But since you’ve done it, I’m hard pressed to argue with you.
By the way, how did your date find that experience? I can picture you in the backyard saying, ‘Hold on honey, I’ll get it open’. ::Runs to a big oak and proceeds to beat a bottle of wine into it::
She must really like you. My girlfriend would have run inside the apartment screaming.
Well, seeing as I was with friends, on a Greek beach, with no corkscrew in sight and the only thing standing between us and the perfect picnic lunch was the damn cork, we were all quite impressed by our virtuosity. We had previously seen the method demo’d by some friends, so we knew (in theory) it was possible. I’m a girl, I swear! But I was part of a crowd of hard-drinkin’ archaeologists and you don’t want to come between an archaeology student and their alchohol.
Mr. Leaky would be proud RM.
Party on!
I know this is a rather old topic now (!) but I was searching for it in the archives and I’d thought I’d add a link to a RealVideo clip of a chap doing the “bash the bottle against the wall” trick.
You can find it at Exploratorium’s site. The video is a bit dark, but the article which accompanies the video explains it a little more.
There’s also a trick which involves putting the newly opened wine in a blender to “improve” the flavour (especially if it’s a cheap wine) by oxidising the tannins, but I’m not sure I’d want to drink the results!
– Quirm