Equation: Why Soda Goes Pop

When soda is manufactured, CO₂ gets pumped in at pressures of around 60 pounds per square inch. This forces the carbon dioxide to dissolve into the liquid, creating carbonic acid?H₂CO₃?and giving pop its tang. (That?s why flat soda tastes strange?no carbonic acid.) Open the can and some of the carbon dioxide molecules break out of their carbonic chain gang and bubble up to freedom?causing that fizz. (If you?re a human body surfacing from a deep dive underwater, gases like nitrogen try to do the same thing in your bloodstream. It?s ? unpleasant. And dangerous.)

The whole dance is orchestrated by the equation below, known as Henry?s law. Lower the pressure p by opening the can, and the concentration c of carbon dioxide in the liquid goes down, too. The soda doesn?t explode in your face because the surface tension of the liquid makes it hard for the CO₂ bubbles to form and expand?the molecules have to combine forces to build enough strength for the job.

Of course, you can always speed things up by shaking the can a bit. That incorporates more gas into the liquid, giving the carbon dioxide molecules a perfect rendezvous point. Shake enough and Henry?s law will put on a foamy show.

Illustration: Toby And Pete

c ?Concentration of the gas in the solution (measured in moles per liter)

^kH ?A constant, which depends on the ability of the liquid to dissolve the gas. For carbon dioxide and soda, the value will be around 0.034 mol/(L * atm)

p ?Partial pressure (measured in atmospheres) of the gas in the soda (in this case, just the pressure of the CO2?adding in the other ambient gases and the liquid would yield ?total pressure?)

Source: http://feeds.wired.com/~r/wired/index/~3/bGBCUWpLuFo/

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