What keeps the ingredients in bottle drinks from sinking to the bottom?

Factual Questions
1

I assume there is some kind of chemical put in the drinks like soda and beer, that keeps it uniform?

2

No chemicals. The ingredients are either dissolved or in suspension.

3

Not really. Most soft drinks are a solution, which basically means all the elements are dissolved and remain mixed under normal circumstances.

Some are a suspension – for instance, there a type of Polar Orange Soda with orange pulp. In these cases, the there can be some ingredients at the bottom. You can also see this with fruit juices containing pulp.

But it’s the same as if you dissolved sugar into water. The sugar remains dissolved unless you do someting like heat it to evaporate the water.

4
      • In one of the Big Secrets books by William Poundstone, there is a chapter on “secret food formulas”. There it is explained that typical sodas often use various oils as flavorings and to prevent them from separating, grain alcohol is added. IIRC he said it’s about 1% of the syrup content–but I dunno how much the syrup is diluted with water. I’ll scan and post it if I can find the book; my “numbers stations” page is a bit dusty.
        ~
5

. . . -Also addresses the question of if Coca-cola contains cocaine, we note.
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6

Another thing that Poundstone mentions in Big Secrets is the way Yoo-hoo separates out upon standing. He even identifies what the different layers consist of. Some drinks do separate upon standing.