# Is there a chemical that be added to water to create carbonated water? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 20, 2011, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-chemical-that-be-added-to-water-to-create-carbonated-water/568282 "2011-01-20T03:30:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2011, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-chemical-that-be-added-to-water-to-create-carbonated-water/568282/21 "2011-01-20T17:32:54Z")
> [@asterion](#): > > The other problem with stocking dry ice is that it will sublimate on you eventually, no matter how you’re keeping it. So it doesn’t surprise me that not many places would keep it around. it also gets coated with water ice if not in a dry environment. ---
**Author:** ![Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8edcca/32.png) [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superfluous_Parentheses)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2011, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-chemical-that-be-added-to-water-to-create-carbonated-water/568282/22 "2011-01-20T18:03:14Z")
Not pure water, but yeast and sugars will give you CO2 (and a little bit, or a lot, of alcohol) - enough to make it fizzy if you keep it in a closed container (like a plastic soda bottle) for a few days. Example: ginger beer (tastes better than just sugar water). For 5 liters: 1 big pot that will hold 5 liters with a lid. 5 liters of water 40 grams roughly chopped ginger 400 grams of sugar 3 lemons - halved. 1 packet of dry yeast (baking yeast will do). boil 1 liter of water, add the sugar, the ginger, squeeze in the lemon juice and add the skins. boil for 10 minutes or so. turn off the heat, add the rest of the water. the mixture shouldn’t be over about 40 C, so let it cool a bit if it needs to. then add the yeast. put the lid on the pot and let it stand in a warm room for 2 days. filter the mixture and put in plastic bottles with a little air left in the top and screw the tops on tight. let stand for another 2 days or until the pressure is high enough that you can’t squeeze the bottles. refrigerate. drink when you feel like a refreshing drink. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2011, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-chemical-that-be-added-to-water-to-create-carbonated-water/568282/23 "2011-01-20T18:30:45Z")
[QUOTE=Balthisar] Just out of curiosity, what do the refills/exchanges go for? One the major criticisms I have for the SodaStream in the USA is that it’s proprietary and can’t be refilled at market rates, meaning that you’re stuck with overpriced, propriety refills. I use my beer serving system… my last 20 pounds of CO2 only cost me about $18. [/QUOTE] I got one for Christmas and still haven’t used up the original cartridge. I generally make a bottle or two of soda a day (the flavor refills are like $4.00 and you can make maybe 20 bottles of soda from one refill…I’ve gone through 3-4 refills so far). I’m not sure what the CO2 refill costs, but unless it’s a lot it’s a pretty cost effective system. Plus I don’t have all those plastic bottles to toss out constantly. -XT ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2011, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-chemical-that-be-added-to-water-to-create-carbonated-water/568282/24 "2011-01-20T18:37:35Z")
Looked it up…the CO2 cartridge costs $29.95. Even with $4.95 for the flavor refills I’m coming out ahead, IMHO, and the soda doesn’t taste as sweet as most of the national brands. -XT ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2011, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-chemical-that-be-added-to-water-to-create-carbonated-water/568282/25 "2011-01-20T18:49:32Z")
This office building I used to work at one day gave everyone free ice cream bars. I got a fudgcicle. But they had been stroring the ice cream treats in dry ice, so they were _very_ cold. I unwapped my fudge bar, put it into my mouth, and my lips were instantly frozen around it. I couldn’t pull it out of my mouth until it had started to melt. Luckily I was able to breath through my nose or I would have suffocated! ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2011, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-chemical-that-be-added-to-water-to-create-carbonated-water/568282/26 "2011-01-20T19:14:07Z")
> [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](#): > > Not pure water, but yeast and sugars will give you CO2 (and a little bit, or a lot, of alcohol) - enough to make it fizzy if you keep it in a closed container (like a plastic soda bottle) for a few days. > > Example: ginger beer (tastes better than just sugar water). > > For 5 liters: > 1 big pot that will hold 5 liters with a lid. > 5 liters of water > 40 grams roughly chopped ginger > 400 grams of sugar > 3 lemons - halved. > 1 packet of dry yeast (baking yeast will do). > > boil 1 liter of water, add the sugar, the ginger, squeeze in the lemon juice and add the skins. > boil for 10 minutes or so. > > turn off the heat, add the rest of the water. the mixture shouldn’t be over about 40 C, so let it cool a bit if it needs to. then add the yeast. put the lid on the pot and let it stand in a warm room for 2 days. > > filter the mixture and put in plastic bottles with a little air left in the top and screw the tops on tight. let stand for another 2 days or until the pressure is high enough that you can’t squeeze the bottles. refrigerate. drink when you feel like a refreshing drink. Just the recipe I was looking for, and already in metric! Grātiās tibi agō! ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2011, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-chemical-that-be-added-to-water-to-create-carbonated-water/568282/27 "2011-01-20T19:14:36Z")
Dry ice can be used as a bed bug detector, which adds nothing really to this thread but keeps the subjects of bed bugs alive 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8edcca/32.png) [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superfluous_Parentheses)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2011, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-chemical-that-be-added-to-water-to-create-carbonated-water/568282/28 "2011-01-20T20:48:44Z")
> [@Johnny\_Angel](#): > > Just the recipe I was looking for, and already in metric! Grātiās tibi agō! You’re welcome (I think 😃 ) Please note that I specified plastic bottles for the final stage. The build up of gas can go very quickly and glass or earthenware bottles can blow up in potentially dangerous shards if you have them sealed tightly - though in my experience, [Grolsch type glass bottles work quite well](http://www.strandtentdeschorpioen.nl/grolsch.jpg) - they’re sturdier than most bottles and if the pressure gets too high some gas can still escape. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2011, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-chemical-that-be-added-to-water-to-create-carbonated-water/568282/29 "2011-01-20T20:59:53Z")
> [@Norse](#): > > I have a chemistry degree, and I’ve never seen bottles of “carbonic acid” for sale, not even in the chemical suppliers’ catalogs. I’ll buy that method as soon as you can show me where I can get that bottle of carbonic acid. In fact, it’s more than likely that what has been dubbed as “carbonic acid” really is hydrated CO2. [Link](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbonic_acid#Spectroscopic_studies_of_carbonic_acid) Agreed. Sorry, **Chronos** , but you cannot practically isolate carbonic acid (at least under normal room conditions). An aqueous solution of carbonic acid is simply water with carbon dioxide dissolved in it in equilibrium with some small amount of carbonic acid. In other words, an aqueous solution of carbonic acid is simply carbonated water itself. ---
**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2011, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-chemical-that-be-added-to-water-to-create-carbonated-water/568282/30 "2011-01-20T22:23:52Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > I seem to remember being told you could make fizzy orange juice by adding baking soda. We eat the stuff all the time, and specifically use it to create carbon dioxide bubbles, so it should be safe. > > I’m pretty sure that, on Good Eats, it was said that getting baking soda wet would create bubbles, so that seems like a possible solution. If your liquid is non-acidic, you can also use baking powder (not baking soda) to create bubbles. The buffering starch in baking powder might give it a weird powdery flavour, though. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2011, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-chemical-that-be-added-to-water-to-create-carbonated-water/568282/31 "2011-01-20T22:37:02Z")
I stand corrected on the carbonic acid. ---
**Author:** ![Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tastes_of_chocolate/32/3232_2.png) [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tastes_of_Chocolate)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2011, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-chemical-that-be-added-to-water-to-create-carbonated-water/568282/32 "2011-01-21T19:58:41Z")
If you have a brewing supply store near you, you can build your own CO2 injector, that will work with a standard 2 liter soda bottle. It will look like [this](http://www.midwestsupplies.com/compact-co2-injector-pin-lock-fitting-compact-co2-injector.html), except the connection on the right (the orange and white part) will have a slightly different connection. The grey part on the left holds a 16 gram CO2 catidge, which run under a dollar each, and will carbonate 2-3 2 liters. The best part is, the whole thing it takes up very small amounts of space. You can fit it in your hand. ---
**Author:** ![longPath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bb73d2/32.png) [@longPath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/longPath)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2011, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-chemical-that-be-added-to-water-to-create-carbonated-water/568282/33 "2011-01-21T23:35:13Z")
\>A teaspoon size piece does about 2 liters of liquid. Don’t blowup the container as the pressure builds. Awww, you’re no [fun](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTP4yp8y_NA)…😃 ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2011, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-chemical-that-be-added-to-water-to-create-carbonated-water/568282/34 "2011-01-22T00:07:29Z")
> [@longPath](#): > > Awww, you’re no [fun](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTP4yp8y_NA)…😃 Since 9/11, the legal systsem has become very concerned over dry ice ‘bombs’: See [“dry ice” felony](http://www.google.com/search?q=%22dry+ice%22+felony&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a), for numerous examples. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2011, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-chemical-that-be-added-to-water-to-create-carbonated-water/568282/35 "2011-01-22T01:09:17Z")
That’s nothing. I knew some physics majors who apparently poured a lot of liquid nitrogen in an old dorm-size fridge and managed to blast it down the hallway when the pressure finally overcame the seal of the door. ---
**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2011, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-chemical-that-be-added-to-water-to-create-carbonated-water/568282/36 "2011-01-23T16:27:00Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > I seem to remember being told you could make fizzy orange juice by adding baking soda. We eat the stuff all the time, and specifically use it to create carbon dioxide bubbles, so it should be safe. > > I’m pretty sure that, on Good Eats, it was said that getting baking soda wet would create bubbles, so that seems like a possible solution. Orange juice + baking soda would result in bubbles, as orange juice is acidic. If you want bubbles with just plain water, you may be thinking of the test of baking _powder_’s potency. ---
**Author:** ![glowacks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/glowacks/32/5548_2.png) [@glowacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glowacks)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2011, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-chemical-that-be-added-to-water-to-create-carbonated-water/568282/37 "2011-01-24T04:25:28Z")
> [@robby](#): > > Agreed. Sorry, **Chronos** , but you cannot practically isolate carbonic acid (at least under normal room conditions). > > An aqueous solution of carbonic acid is simply water with carbon dioxide dissolved in it in equilibrium with some small amount of carbonic acid. In other words, an aqueous solution of carbonic acid is simply carbonated water itself. When a chemist talks about “one molar sulfuric acid”, does one always say “a one molar solution of sulfuric acid in water”? I doubt it, but by giving a concentration to the acid you are implicitly saying that it’s not the entirety of the liquid present and (generally) that the rest is water. Now certainly any bottle you get that’s labeled “carbonic acid” will have to have a concentration listed on it, and might explicitly say that it’s carbonic acid in water, but how many people will bother mentioning the water part of it when referring to it? ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2011, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-chemical-that-be-added-to-water-to-create-carbonated-water/568282/38 "2011-01-24T15:36:19Z")
> [@glowacks](#): > > When a chemist talks about “one molar sulfuric acid”, does one always say “a one molar solution of sulfuric acid in water”? I doubt it, but by giving a concentration to the acid you are implicitly saying that it’s not the entirety of the liquid present and (generally) that the rest is water. Now certainly any bottle you get that’s labeled “carbonic acid” will have to have a concentration listed on it, and might explicitly say that it’s carbonic acid in water, but how many people will bother mentioning the water part of it when referring to it? You don’t need to state “in water” _per se_. Instead, you would simply describe your example as a 1 _M_ aqueous solution of sulfuric acid. An “aqueous solution” means that the solvent part of the solution is water. If a chemist were to refer to “one molar sulfuric acid,” it would be assumed that they were referring to an aqueous solution, but it would be more precise to actually state this. Note that it’s possible for some acids to be anhydrous (i.e. containing no water), or gaseous, so an acid need not necessarily be an aqueous solution. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2011, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-chemical-that-be-added-to-water-to-create-carbonated-water/568282/39 "2011-01-24T16:11:26Z")
verbally ‘aqueous’ not specifically stated though might be assumed in context. in writing that might also be the case though (aq) after the substance indicates aqueous. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2011, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-chemical-that-be-added-to-water-to-create-carbonated-water/568282/40 "2011-01-24T16:56:55Z")
> [@johnpost](#): > > verbally ‘aqueous’ not specifically stated though might be assumed in context. in writing that might also be the case though (aq) after the substance indicates aqueous. Exactly. So a one molar aqueous solution of sulfuric acid would be written 1 _M_ H[sub]2[/sub]SO[sub]4[/sub] _(aq)_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-chemical-that-be-added-to-water-to-create-carbonated-water/568282.md?page=1)