# Alka Seltzer

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alka-seltzer/50525>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 17, 2001, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alka-seltzer/50525 "2001-01-17T16:18:47Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Non\_Toxic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Non\_Toxic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Non_Toxic)\
**Post date:** [January 17, 2001, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alka-seltzer/50525/1 "2001-01-17T16:18:47Z")

</div>

How did this discovery come about?  
How did they discover that you could make something that fizzes in water?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\
**Post date:** [January 17, 2001, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alka-seltzer/50525/2 "2001-01-17T17:26:34Z")

</div>

It’s not hard. You combine a power that’s acidic with another that’s alkaline. When water is added, they produce carbon dioxide. The fizzing has little to do with the effectiveness of the medicine.

Actually, I beleve Alka Seltzer was predated by Bromo Seltzer, which was the same thing as a powder instead of a tablet.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\
**Post date:** [January 17, 2001, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alka-seltzer/50525/3 "2001-01-17T22:45:47Z")

</div>

Bromo Seltzer was invented in Baltimore in 1891.  
[http://knight.city.ba.k12.md.us/faculty/ss/timelineofinventions.htm](http://knight.city.ba.k12.md.us/faculty/ss/timelineofinventions.htm)

> [@](#):
>
> 1891 - First commercial stomach antacid seltzer - Bromo-Seltzer, made by Captain Isaac E. Emerson

There is evidently a Bromo-Seltzer Tower in Baltimore, in commemoration of this event.

A sidebar, on “toothpaste” tube packaging.  
[http://www.tube.org/History/history.htm](http://www.tube.org/History/history.htm)

> [@](#):
>
> The “single-shot” tube, with a finger-nail indentation so that the flat end of the container can be torn off easily, was first used to package individual servings of G. Washington instant coffee and later Bromo-Seltzer. The latter, for single doses, still is packaged in this manner, and represents one of the most spectacular applications of tube packaging.

And everything you always wanted to know about Alka-Seltzer but were afraid to ask.  
[http://alka-seltzer.com/faq/faqindex2.htm](http://alka-seltzer.com/faq/faqindex2.htm)