eli5 – why does tapping the top of a pop can make it fizz less? Or is that just a myth I’ve been practicing for 30+ years?

Question

What the title says. Pop means soda btw.

In: 1560

Answer 1

Myth! There’s actually a [good mythical morning episode](https://youtu.be/944cu1HNWn8) where they test this out.

Like, they aren’t an incredibly reliable scientific source lol. BUT! They did a bunch of experiments and the only thing that actually made soda fizz less was waiting 30 seconds. And the myth that tapping helps is likely because while you are tapping you’re waiting to open the soda so it calms down regardless .

My assumption is that the gas always wants to be on top. And for reasons explained in other posts it’ll get stuck to the sides when shaken up. So if you just give it a minute for the gas to reorient itself it’ll go from the sides to the top again.