Learn

Imagine being able to turn a glass of orange juice into a glass of orange soda? Imagine being able to do this without using any fancy bottling machinery or mixing in real soda or using a soda gas cannister.

Rather, you will create the soda bubbles within the drink and in doing so learn some secrets of chemistry.

• A large glass
• One lemon or orange
• Drinking water
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• Sugar, or other sweetener

1. Squeeze the juice from the fruit into your glass.
2. Next, add an equal amount of water.
3. Stir in a teaspoon of baking soda.
4. Add sugar until it tastes decent.

What Happened:

The bubbling that occurs is a chemical reaction between a base and an acid. A base gives off negatively charged hydrogen ions when dissolved in water. An acid, on the other hand, emits positive hydrogen ions when it dissolves in water. In this experiment, the baking soda serves as a base, and the citrus fruit acts as an acid; when they combine, they react and create carbon dioxide, the bubbly gas. Regular soda pop also contains carbon dioxide bubbles, but its carbonation is achieved by putting the liquid under pressure. Here, we’ve created carbonation by purely chemical means.