Science Fun

Ever wonder what makes soda fizz? It is a gas, and the name of that gas is – Carbon Dioxide. In the manufacturing process, the carbonated beverage is packed in cans or bottles under high pressure, using carbon dioxide. This gas is dissolved into the beverage due to the pressure, when you open the container, the noise you hear is the rush of the gas escaping from the container, the beverage gets bubbly due to the gas escaping from the beverage.

Here is a fun little experiment – make raisins dance! You will need a tall glass, a can of clear soda such as Sprite or 7-Up, and several raisins. Pour the soda into the tall glass – notice the bubbles rising to the top – that is the carbon dioxide gas. Now, drop several raisins into the glass – what happened?

At first the raisins sank to the bottom of the glass (they are denser than the beverage), then as the carbon dioxide bubbles adhere to the rough sections of the raisin, there will become enough of the little gas bubbles that will then have enough power to lift the raisin to the surface, then bubbles pop, the gas escapes into the atmosphere and the raisin sinks back to the bottom of the glass to begin the journey all over again. This process will continue until the soda goes flat (or the raisin gets so soggy, that it can not be lifted anymore).

Try other objects for this little experiment – the object has to have a rough surface and has to be just a little denser than water. What have you learned about Carbon Dioxide?

Trackback URI | Comments RSS