The Exploring of the Moving Characteristics of a Straw after Being Put into the Carbonate Drinks

Abstract

It is well-known that bubbles in carbonate drinks will be produced and cling onto the straw once a straw is put into a bottle or cup which contains some carbonate drinks. As the bubbles become more and more, the straw will move onto the surface of the carbonate drink, or it will drop onto the table. In order to know the characterization of straw movement (fall or drop), an experiment concerning several possible factors which may affect the straw movement was designed and performed. It was found that the time it takes for the straw in the carbonate drinks to fall and drop was affected by exposure time of the carbonate drinks, the proportion of the depth of the drink surface to the height of the glass and the straw length as follow: (1) the time it takes for the straw in the carbonate drinks to fall and drop increases as the time goes on; (2) The time it takes for the straw in the carbonate drinks to fall and drop decreases as the depth of the carbonate drink increases; (3) The time it takes for the straw in the carbonate drinks to fall and drop decreases as the length of the straw increases. Based on the results of moving characteristics of a straw in carbonate drink, an inverse correlation between CO2 capacity and the time of straw to drop (or fall) could be deduced, and together with the results mentioned above, it is possible to estimate the CO2 capacity of some unknown carbonate drinks by comparing the time of straw to drop (or fall) with that of a sample with standard CO2 capacity, the most important detective index of carbonate drink. The phenomenon observed in this study may provide a novel idea for the rapid detective method of CO2 capacity.