Contents Under Pressure

Scott Hardie | September 13, 2006
Help settle a debate: What's the better way to keep a two-liter bottle of soda – or pop or Coke, whatever you want to call it – from going flat, to squeeze out all the extra air and seal the cap or just to seal the cap?

Anna Gregoline | September 13, 2006
How do you squeeze out the extra air?

Scott Hardie | September 14, 2006
Pour out half the contents to drink, then squeeze the bottle until there's only soda inside with no empty, airy space. Then put the cap on without letting it fill with air again.

Lori Lancaster | September 14, 2006
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Anna Gregoline | September 14, 2006
So you crush your soda bottle? Doesn't it stand up weird after that?

I'm sorry, I've never seen anyone do that.

I usually buy soda in cans because I like the taste better. And they don't go flat - flat soda is pointless to me.

Jackie Mason | September 14, 2006
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Scott Hardie | September 15, 2006
I don't even buy two-liters. This is between two friends. One insists that squeezing out the air will keep the remaining soda from going flat, because (I surmise) there's a vacuum in the bottle. The other says that more air inside will keep pressure on the soda and thus keep the bubbles from escaping. To demonstrate, he squeezed out the air, put the cap on, shook it, and held it up as it ballooned out to its normal size, showing (he said) that the fizz was escaping from the soda and repressurizing the bottle. I suspect he's right, but I have no scientific basis for this, and I don't have a clue how to research it, so I thought I'd pose it here and see if anybody had anything to say about it. I guess it wasn't a great idea for a discussion, but hey, I took a shot. Thanks for the feedback. :-)

Amy Austin | September 26, 2006
Ed's a bottle-squisher. I, however, tend to agree with your friend on carbon escape and pressure. In any case, I prefer cans to 2-liters, because I can't stand having a 2-L around long enough to find it flat -- which always seems to happen no matter *what* you do, unless you drink it at the crazy rates that my husband does (I guess that's why he thinks the squishing works?) Heh. Funny you should mention this.

Denise Sawicki | September 26, 2006
As a former physics major I would have to agree that squishing the bottle would make it flat. Maybe your friend likes it flat. :P It used to be I couldn't stand carbonation at all and I would rather drink it flat. But I've become more tolerant of carbonation in recent years.

Scott Hardie | September 27, 2006
No, she definitely doesn't like it flat. I suggested they simply buy separate bottles or switch to cans. Funny, it's a married couple having the difference of opinion. I haven't told them my "findings" yet from this discussion but I guess it's time.

Kris Weberg | September 27, 2006
The only things that might potentially work are keeping the cap on tight between pours, and keeping the soda cold when not in use (which has to do with gas-liquid solutions). Anything else is simply going to be ineffectual.

Amy Austin | September 29, 2006
Well, to be fair, I don't criticize E's habit (we usually have cans anyway)... it isn't a totally ineffective one, unless you go around shaking up the bottle.

Scott Hardie | September 29, 2006
For some reason I'm reminded of Bill Engvall's bit about an argument with his wife, who was angry he didn't put the twist-tie back on the bread wrapper before he put it back in the cabinet. "Of course not! I'm a guy! I did what guys do! I twisted it around, and I folded it under!" Cue cheers from the men in the audience.

Amy Austin | September 29, 2006
Actually... that's the way I put up bread, too -- but usually only after the first half of the loaf is done. I think it's funnier when Jeff Foxworthy talks about his wife freaking out about not *saving* the twist-ties -- something I also do and can relate to... ;-D