Skip to main content
Library homepage
 

Text Color

Text Size

 

Margin Size

 

Font Type

Enable Dyslexic Font
Chemistry LibreTexts

Coke Density

( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\)

Chemical Concept Demonstrated

  • Density

Demonstration

A can of Coke/Pepsi and a can of Diet Coke/Pepsi are added to a 4-L beaker filled with 3-L of water. diet.gif

Observations

The regular can sinks. The diet can floats.

Explanation

Diet drinks are less dense than their regular counterparts because the sweetener added to them is "sweeter" than sugar. Less of the artificial sweetener is necessary to make a diet cola taste as sweet as a regular cola, so the final density is less.

Regular Coke/Pepsi has a higher density than water, so a can of it sinks in water. Diet Coke/Pepsi has a lower density, so a can of it floats.


Coke Density is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by George Bodner.

Support Center

How can we help?