Why is warm pop fizzy?
Just why is it that warm pop is fizzier than cold pop? The answer isn’t what you might expect. The answer is CO2. But let me explain a bit first. Okay we know that stuff dissolves into other stuff (like sugar into water, water being the solvent). If you’ve cooked at all you know that sugar, salt, and similar things … heck most things … dissolve (or go into solution) better/faster as you increase the temperature. It’s just one of those molecular things. CO2 is different. CO2 dissolves better as it gets, wait for it, colder. Yes, colder. So, warm liquids (like warm pop) can’t hold as much CO2 as cold liquids. If you can’t keep something in solution, it comes out. For sugar water you get sugar crystals (aka rock candy), for pop … well CO2 is a gas and so … fizz.
Fun, eh?
Hmm, maybe I should do the old crystal growing experiment and make some rock candy. Or explain crystal formation in rocks with the fudge analogy (yes Bruce, now Dr. Bruce … I still remember).
Posts for another day.
Tags: solutions, solvents, warm pop, what makes pop fizzy
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