• Question: Is shaving foam a liqiud or a solid.I am asking because I am not sure of the particles. Also because just like a liquid you can pour it but it also can be a solid because it stays in the same shape util you touch it.

    Asked by nicenadia to Alessandro, Angela, Claudia, Marina, Phil on 9 Mar 2013.
    • Photo: Claudia Krehl

      Claudia Krehl answered on 9 Mar 2013:

      Foam is considered to be liquid, where thin films of liquid separate regions of gas. Another interesting one are gels, which are considered liquid but have some properties of solid matter.

      Have a look at wikipedia:
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foam
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gel

    • Photo: Alessandro Guazzi

      Alessandro Guazzi answered on 10 Mar 2013:

      Good points! What a muddle! It doesn’t help that the shaving foam is made up of a lot of gas as well!

      I think that the distinction you would make here is to say that shaving foam is a liquid foam, as if you popped all the bubbles that made it up you would be left with a liquid, whereas something like a sponge is definitely a solid foam because you can pop all you like but you’re still left with a solid! 😉

      But don’t think that you’re the only confused one here – the actual way foam works and behaves is still a bit of a mystery to many scientists! NASA is interested in it (http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2003/09jun_foam/) and a lot of my friends who did Chemistry or Physics at univeristy and worked a bit for food companies were working on it. So next time you have a foamy instant drink, you’ll know who and what is behind it!

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