Carbon Dioxide From Escaping A Carbonated Drink When The Drink's Container Has Been Opened?

How do you keep carbon dioxide from escaping a carbonated drink when the drink's container has been opened?

When you open a carbonated beverage's container, such as a soda can or bottle, you may hear a hissing sound from the opening as you do so. That is the sound of the carbon dioxide gas escaping from the sealed container through the new opening. When this happens, the process of the beverage losing its so-called "fizz" has already begun. However, there are several solutions to this issue. This problem stems from the loss of carbon dioxide gas within the beverage through the opening in the container, so we must find a way to halt that escape of gas.

We begin by researching how the gas escapes the liquid itself before escaping into the atmosphere. The carbon dioxide molecules have to find some bigger molecule to latch on to in order to leave the confines of the liquid, and trapped oxygen molecules within the container provide an excellent mode of transportation. When a carbonated liquid is mixed with all the other molecules in the container, for example, by being shaken, the carbon dioxide in the liquid uses the oxygen molecules to escape, so minimizing the amount of oxygen within the opened container may be paramount to
preventing the loss of gas within the liquid.

Another possible solution to the problem is maintaining pressure within the container.
It is well known that when you open a bottle of soda, most if not all the pressure inside the container is lost, as evidenced by the hissing sound. If a simple method of adding more carbon dioxide into the container were found, then the carbonation of a beverage could be preserved further. Some contemporary gadgets market themselves as having the capability to maintain pressure within carbonated beverage containers, but most of them simply add more oxygen molecules, not more carbon dioxide, which is not our goal. Though it may reproduce the hissing sound heard when you first open the container, that is simply the pressurized air escaping the
container.

The third solution to this issue is simple- Maintain a low temperature to keep the drink carbonated. Temperature directly relates to the solubility of gases in liquid, with colder temperatures allowing for higher solubility, and higher temperatures allowing for lower solubility. Solubility means how easily a gas is dissolved into a liquid, in this case, carbon dioxide gas in a carbonated beverage. At higher temperatures, the beverage loses its carbonation, and at lower temperatures, the opposite occurs. Thus, our third solution is to keep the beverage cold.

The fourth solution is quite possibly even simpler, and involves minimal amounts of research. Naturally, a gas contained within a liquid rises due to it being lighter than the molecules around it. That is why you see bubbles rising up to the surface of a glass of soda, and is also why soda loses its carbonation when opened. This solution uses that fact to keep most of the carbon dioxide gas within the container by placing the heaviest molecules, the liquid, at the opening instead of the gas. You just have to place the container upside down. Through doing this, you leave no easy way for the trapped gas to escape, as the opening is now covered with heavy liquid molecules. The only way for the gas to escape is if all the carbonated liquid was removed, or if the container was placed upright once again, and opened.