Fastest Way to Cool a Soda Jenna Belnap

What are the fastest ways to cool sodas? I’m trying to learn which way is the fastest way to quickly cool a soda. What prompted this was an experience earlier this summer when I had been in the heat all day and just had to have an ice cold SODA! The word makes you thirsty, but of course you leave your can out and its room temperature!! “UUUUUHHGGG” An hour in the fridge and its still not SUPER COLD! Makes me want to CRY! So a few scientists have solved this situation. So, freezer? Mmmm… maybe a wet paper towel around the can? Ice would help… A salty ice bath? HECK YES- I mean… It may be so.

Research I learned from various articles that adding salt can lower the freezing point of water. Because of gross warm soda, I believe adding salt as a cooling mechanism should be taken into consideration. This made me curious to see if my hypothesis that adding salt to an ice bath would cool soda faster than a freezer or some other method. http://www.education.com/science-fair/article/fastest-way-to-cool- a-soda/ http://antoine.frostburg.edu/chem/senese/101/solutions/faq/why-salt- melts-ice.shtml http://blog.science-matters.org/2011/09/26/chemistry-the-effect-of- salt-on-the-freezing-point-of-water/

Hypothesis I think adding salt to an ice bath will cool soda faster than putting the soda in a freezer for the same amount of time.

Variables Independent Variable: Cooling rate of soda. Dependent Variable: Temperatures and differences. Controlled Variables: Sodas

Procedure Experiment details/steps: 1. Add 2 tablespoons of salt in water with several ice cubes to set up the ice bath in a pot of ice. 2. After a minute or so of stirring, record the ice bath temperature. 3. Record the temperature of the freezer 4. Open soda cans and record starting temperatures. (67.7, 68.2, 68.4) 5. Place first can in the freezer 6. Wrap wet paper towel around second and put in freezer 7. Place third can in ice bath. 8. Check can temperatures every five minutes until you have reached 20 minutes. 9. Record temperatures during each 5 minute interval

Data Soda Type Cooling Medium Starting Temperature Time Temperature Dr Pepper Ice Bath 67.7 5 62.8 10 56.3 15 53.2 20 49.9 Diet Coke Freezer 68.4 64.2 60 56.2 52.7 Diet Pepsi Towel 68.2 62.9 59.7 53.9

Graphs

Pictures Give some proof that you did the work!!

Conclusion The results of my experiment seem to indicate that my hypothesis was accurate. The ice bath, which had 2 tbs of salt added, cooled at a faster rate than a freezer. It would be interesting to see what would happen if I added more or less salt, and what type of water to salt ratios would result in the fastest cooling rates. I was surprised at how cold the water stayed when adding salt. I thought it would cool faster based on what I’d read, but adding salt really kept the water cold!