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Density: Will it Float (Diet vs Regular Soda)

  • Page ID
    128804
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    Required Training

    Required PPE

    UC Lab Safety Fundamentals

    Lab coat, safety glasses/goggles,

    nitrile gloves

    Equipment

    Chemicals

    4 L beaker filled with DI water

    1 can diet soda

    1 can regular soda

    Scale

    Procedure:

    1. Put the two sodas into the water tank, and note that the sugary soda sinks while the headspace in the diet soda is enough to keep it afloat.
    2. The two cans can be put on a scale and the sugary drink will weigh more.

    Discussion:

    This demonstration shows the effects of dissolved solutes on a solution’s density. Because about 40 g of sucrose is dissolved in each can of coke, its density is much higher than in the diet soda with the much sweeter/gram aspartame. Even though aspartame is comparable in molar mass to sucrose, it is nearly 200 times sweeter per mole than sucrose. Recall that density is mass per unit volume.

    Hazards:

    N/A

    SOP:

    N/A

    Disposal (by Storeroom)


    Density: Will it Float (Diet vs Regular Soda) is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by LibreTexts.

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