I recently got one of those at-home drink carbonators (think Sodastream), and in making myself some legally distinct cola, I noticed that sparkling water doesn’t tend to get a ‘head’, but it will after I’ve added the flavoring. (I hope ‘head’ is the right term, like it is with beer.)
What causes this? Is it that adding the flavor gives more ‘surface’ for more fizz to be made, hence more bubbles, or the consistency of soda vs sparkling water making it easy to bubble, or something else?
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The “head” effect is more due to sugars and other chemicals allowing it to form larger, more visible bubbles. Soaps do the same thing.
Technically, the soda would have a smaller capacity for carbonation since there is already something dissolved in it.
Edit: the sugars and other additives also act as places for carbon dioxide to come out of solution and form bubbles, so it fizzes more that seltzer when it just sits there in a plastic bottle. Doesn’t last as long.
The effect responsible for bubbles has to do with the shape of the molecules of the additives. If one side of the molecule is attracted to water and the other side of it repels water molecules, they arrange to form a thin but strong 3-layer structure with water molecules in the middle and the additive molecules on both sides, with the water-seeking ends pointed toward the water layer, and the water-repelling ends pointed into the air and into the volume of the bubble.
What I find interesting is that we had a SodaStream when I was a kid and you had to put the flavour in the bottle and cap it really quickly or it would fizz all over the bench. But now it just doesn’t do that at all, it does fizz up when I pour the mixed drink into a glass though.
It’s the sugar. If you add a teaspoon of sugar to sparkling water it will go *whoof* and you’ll suddenly have a fizzy head.
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