Question in title. Drop a can of soda and open it and you’re showered with a fizzy explosion . Tap the top of the can a few times and you disarm the fizzyness. Why?
It doesn’t. Except for the fact that it forces you to wait a little bit before opening it.
I’ve found if I turn the can end-over-end gently a few times before opening it can calm the spew a bit. This could just be placebo effect, YMMV.
It does work if you tap it several hundred of times
I always thought the tapping broke up the bubbles or something. I’ve seen it work and I’ve seen it not work. YMMV
The problem with saying “I’ve seen it work” is that, yes, you’ve seen cans that were tapped and then there was no spray. But how can you if it was going to spray if it hadn’t been tapped?
I saw it get shook up first, and assumed it would spew if opened.
All things be equal.
Son-of-a-wrek has actually spent a good bit of time experimenting with this. With beer cans. We think it’s a ruse to get to drink more beer in the name of science.
Hmmm? I may have to revive this question. We need an activity for today
It doesn’t do anything:
However it is a very useful tool to “measure” superstition or confirmation bias.
Here is a relevant video from Veritasium. He uses a plastic bottle instead of a can, but gets a clear result. The whole video is interesting, but the relevant part starts around 7:50.
