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Bubbles in a 3.4-ounce pour of Champagne before it goes flat (after about four hours), Gérard Liger-Belair, a physicist at the University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne in France, reported in the Journal of Physical Chemistry. He said he took a number of factors into account, including the concentration of dissolved gas, the shape and height of the glass, the temperature of the wine and the air, the direction of the pour and a complicating fact about the bubbles: They grow larger as they ascend and absorb more carbon dioxide, but smaller overall as time passes. new york times