Saturday, October 5, 2013

Keeping Soda from going Flat

If you're like me, you buy a bottle of soda, say a 2 liter, but you don't finish it for days, or maybe even weeks. But if you don't finish it quickly it will go flat. I have learned that this does not have to happen. If you squeeze the plastic bottle it came in so that there is little space for air remaining, the soda won't go flat.

It seems that it goes flat because the gas in the soda slowly escapes from the soda into the air inside the bottle. When the Carbon Dioxide in the air inside the bottle reaches the same pressure as inside the liquid, no more will be lost to the liquid. If you squeeze and deform the bottle so there is little room for air in it then less gas will be lost to the air to reach that pressure and the soda won't go flat. Every time you take some soda you'll have to squeeze the bottle some more. If you bring bottles back for deposit, you may get some strange looks.

No comments: