Dailey Bailey: Engineers Have Finally Figured Out How to Walk With a Coffee Mug Without Spilling

It’s always good to see science being used for something practical. Any scientist can try to cure diseases, right? But only these guys used their knowledge to solve a real problem: Carrying a coffee mug without spilling.

Two mechanical engineers at the University of California, Santa Barbara ran a series of lab experiments to figure out how to walk with a coffee mug without spilling a drop. And these are their three conclusions:

#1.) Start your walk slowly. You don’t want to accelerate too fast . . . that gets the liquid moving too much.

#2.) Leave a gap between the top of the coffee and the top of the mug. They say it should be at least one-eighth of the mug’s diameter. Since you’re not going to bother to calculate that, just leave about half an inch of space.

#3.) Look at the mug while you walk. That keeps your body focused and is the biggest key to preventing a spill.