What exactly creates that feeling you get when drinking carbonated drinks ?

Question

I get that the CO2 causes it but what happens what creates this weird stingy feeling

In: Other

Answer 1

Carbon dioxide (which is used to make the bubbles) turns into carbonic acid when dissolved into water (and back to CO2 when it bubbles out). Carbonic acid can mildly stimulate pain receptors in your tongue when it mixes with your saliva. It doesn’t do any damage; the changing acidity just triggers a false alarm in those nerves. And, because the acid breaks down into gas so fast, it doesn’t really have time to turn into a more significant pain response before it’s gone.