I notice that when I pour some sodas, they have lots of foam on top, while others have a medium amount of foam, and others have almost no foam at all. Some sodas have big soapy-like foam while other sodas have small creamy-like foam. Then, some sodas have lots of bubbles and carbonation when sitting in the glass, while other sodas have almost none at all. What causes the difference in carbonation between different sodas?
In: Chemistry
Does viscosity alter concentration of CO2?
I know at least one factor is drink/glass temperature. An empty glass will foam more then a glass with ice already in it.
Not sure what the chemistry/thermodynamics reason would be but my guess would be that CO2 stays better dissolved in cold liquids. That or less thermal kinetic energy for the CO2 molecules to hit each other with to knock themselves out of the solution.
Sodas don’t have “different carbonation”. CO2 is CO2. There’s either more of it or less of it lol?
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Well, for beer, some beers are “carbonated” with nitrogen instead (e.g. Guinness in most bars, or the cans with a “widget” in them). That gives a very different texture to the foam.
For sodas it seems to be some kind of effect based on the ingredients. For example, diet sodas seem to foam noticeably more when poured than ones with sugar. Possibly the presence of the artificial sweetener (or the large amount of sugar) is changing how readily CO2 dissolves in the liquid.
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