Why does soda explode when you shake it up?

Sweets & Treats

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by Mya Kagan (whyzz writer) >> more about the author

Soda is fizzy because it contains carbon dioxide, a gas that is put into the bottle at the factory by a special machine. A small amount of carbon dioxide would be able to dissolve in the soda, but since the idea is for it to be bubbly when you drink it, the special machine forces in enough extra carbon dioxide that it creates bubbles! Since this extra carbon dioxide can’t dissolve, it constantly wants to “escape” from the bottle. When the bottle or can sits still on a shelf or a table, a small portion of the carbon dioxide makes its way up to the top of the container. – This is what escapes with a little “hiss” when you first open your soda.

However, if a bottle or can of soda is shaken shortly before it’s opened, something different happens to the contents inside. The carbon dioxide that had been sitting patiently at the top of the container gets mixed around with the liquid soda below it. Because the gas is not sitting by itself at the top of the bottle anymore, when the bottle is opened, it doesn’t escape by itself either! Instead, the bubbles come rushing out from all different parts of the inside of the container and bring with them the liquid soda that they’re now mixed up with!

To avoid getting showered by your beverage, let a recently shaken can sit for several minutes before you open it – if you give the carbon dioxide time to separate from the soda again, you can avoid the big mess! Some people also say that tapping the sides of the container to return the bubbles to their proper place can help, too.

Fizzy Foam!

To see a soda's little bubbles of carbon dioxide at work, try out this experiment!

Pour a little bit of soda into a clear glass, and then set the glass down inside a sink so that if your experiment bubbles over, there won't be any mess.

Add some salt to the glass of soda, and watch what happens! Do you see the way the salt makes the top of the soda get foamy?? This is because the salt attracts the bubbles of carbon dioxide, and then the bubbles all gather near the salt at the top of the glass like fizzy foam! – COOL!