MoxVib

Just in time for New Year's, The American Chemical Society has a great video about the science that makes your bubbly so...bubbly.

Technically, champagne is only champagne if it's made from grapes from Champagne (France). But sparkling wine in general gets its oomph by way of a second fermentation. The first round of fermentation is the usual process, where the fruit sugars interact with yeast on the grape skin to produce alcohol.

Fermentation also makes carbon dioxide. During the first round of fermentation, this gas is pretty much lost.

To make sparkling wine, you put the alcohol through a second round of fermentation while it's already in a glass bottle, tightly sealed with a cork. This seals in the carbon dioxide. The trapped gas is absorbed by the wine, forming bubbles.

The above video will teach you all about the science of creating your favorite sparkling wine. But there are a couple of science-y facts that will help you enjoy it more, too -- and keep you from losing an eye when it's time to pop the cork.

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For starters, eye safety: According to the American Academy of Ophthalmology, champagne bottles can launch their corks at speeds of up to 50 miles per hour. That's fast enough to shatter a window, and certainly fast enough to cause permanent eye damage.

Most of the Academy's recommendations are pretty straightforward -- angle the bottle away from you, and don't shake it before you unscrew the protective top over the cork. But temperature is important as well. If you chill a bottle of bubble to 45 degrees or lower, it's less likely to pop unexpectedly.

Once the bottle is safely opened, it's time to optimize your drinking experience. The bubbles in champagne release little bursts of aroma and tickle your senses, which makes the sips seem extra sparkly. To get as many bubbles as possible, researchers have found, it's best to pour the expensive wine as you would pour a beer.

Don't pour straight into the glass: An angled pour will produce more bubbles than letting the wine stream straight down.

But as long as you don't shoot your eye out, I guess you can call your drinking experience a positive one.

Read more: Scientists show that drunk birds 'slur' their songs

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