Popping the cork - Paul's last Wainwright

The weather was exciting for Paul's last Wainwright on Place Fell. Here's the Prosecco being popped. I was being asked last week about how a cork is fired from a bottle. The gas inside needs to have a higher pressure than the air outside. That's not difficult to achieve. But it also important that the difference in pressure provides a resultant force that is greater than the frictional force of the cork against the side of the bottle. The cork is wired on just in case but the cork stays in place even when the wire has been removed. It is necessary to edge the cork out slightly. By doing so, the area of contact between the cork and the glass is reduced so the overall frictional force is reduced. When the resultant force due to the pressure is greater than the friction, the cork flies off. There must come a point when the friction is reduced to zero but the resultant force is large to fire the cork a long way. The parabola was impressive! And congrats to Paul on the achievement!