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The crazy things that happen when you dump salt into a bottle of Coke

Published Jan 25th, 2016 8:50AM EST

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The wacky guy behind the CrazyRussianHacker YouTube account has been a little obsessed with doing things to Coca Cola lately. You may remember his previous video where he mixed Coke and bleach and got the soda to turn completely clear. Over the weekend he came back with a new video showing us what happens when you dump a bunch of salt into a bottle of Coke. Spoiler alert: It makes a giant mess.

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As you can see in the video below, Coke reacts very violently when you add salt and it fizzes completely out of control:

The reason this happens is very simple: When the salt gets dissolved by the soda, it changes the balance of the soda’s chemistry and forces the release of carbon dioxide bubbles from the solution. Essentially, the salt “crowds out” the carbon dioxide and replaces it in the soda. The carbon dioxide then has nowhere else to go but out, which is why it will explode out of the soda bottle.

At any rate, this experiment is something you can do safely in your own house… if you’re willing to clean up a giant mess and if you’re willing to waste a perfectly good bottle of soda, that is.

Brad Reed
Brad Reed Staff Writer

Brad Reed has written about technology for over eight years at BGR.com and Network World. Prior to that, he wrote freelance stories for political publications such as AlterNet and the American Prospect. He has a Master's Degree in Business and Economics Journalism from Boston University.