What the title says. Pop means soda btw.
In: 1560
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-Fc08X56R0&t=1s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-Fc08X56R0&t=1s)
he has a pretty good explanation on it
Tapping has little effect. It is literally the same as shaking it, just less vigorous.
Shake a clear bottle. do bubbles appear on the side? No. They appear in the middle of the liquid, go to the surface and burst. When you flick it some bubbles appear and go to the surface where they burst. It has no effect on the number on the side of the bottle.
Observe the bubbles that form from shaking, or even just quickly moving the drink, there are thousands of them and they take 30 seconds to a minute to fully disappear, compare this to the dozen or so bubbles on the side of the container.
So you might think that this act causes the pressure to increase for a time. It doesn’t the only thing that can increase the pressure in this sealed bottle is something that changes the vapor pressure of the dissolved CO2. Which is only heat. The volume of bubbles in the container will always be the same at a given temperature. You’ve just moved the location of the bubbles from the top into the liquid.
If there is too much pressure the CO2 is reabsorbed into the water. The reason soda overflows is if the bubbles are still in the middle of the solution from a recent disturbance. When you open it too quickly they expand as the pressure decreases and cause the soda to overflow.
So…. knowing both these things, that flicking it does not decrease the bubbles, only creates more and that the reason soda overflows is bubbles that haven’t made it to the surface or reabsorbed. It becomes obvious that the only reason this works is that you have left it still long enough for any bubbles to make their own way to the top.
An explanation and demonstration of how pressure works in a shaken soda bottle. Also lots of great pictures of the bubbles formed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ux29SBmnZZ4
Proof that waiting a minute has more effect than any flicking or tapping.
Bonus fact, you can stop a soda from foaming (especially root beer) by adding a tiny bit of oil to the bubbles. Say from a greasy finger from eating your pizza, just touch the top of the foam on your cup.
Its absolutely a myth, regardless of how many wise words others are using. There are hundreds of tests available on YouTube if you think it works.
I’ve been pulling and flicking the tab on the top since I was a teen when my uncle showed me how to keep a soda can you dropped from exploding and it’s always worked so I’m glad I finally got to see it’s both not a myth and why it works
The best way to open a can without it exploding on you is to open the tab really fast. If you pussy foot it, it will spray all over you. If you open it fast the hole is big enough for gases to escape without a mess.
The best way to make it fizz less is to press a quarter to the bottom of the can as firmly as possible when you open it.
Someone showed me while I was little and it never fails.
So this one trick would help me slamming beers?
I read in a fun fact book a couple years ago that it’s not the tapping that helps the fizz settle, but the time it takes. Tapping a soda can actually make it fizz more, but waiting a few seconds gives time for the soda to calm down.
It’s not a myth, and it actually works best when you tap the sides! When a soda is shaken, lots of tiny air bubbles are formed by the tiny bit of air in the top of the can. These bubbles serve as nucleation sites for the CO2 to come out of solution from being dissolved in the soda. These nucleation points make the CO2 come out of solution far, far faster than it would otherwise be able to do! When you tap the sides of the can, you dislodge the air bubbles and the float to the top and pop, so they can’t help the CO2 come out.
How strange. Regardless of the truth or otherwise of this, I’d always been told it was the bottom of the can you were supposed to tap. It’s not a myth, and it actually works best when you tap the sides! When a soda is shaken, lots of tiny air bubbles are formed by the tiny bit of air in the top of the can. These bubbles serve as nucleation sites for the CO2 to come out of solution from being dissolved in the soda. These nucleation points make the CO2 come out of solution far, far faster than it would otherwise be able to do! When you tap the sides of the can, you dislodge the air bubbles and the float to the top and pop, so they can’t help the CO2 come out.
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