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Buoyancy - Pepsi And Diet Pepsi

Purpose

To show the difference in density between soft drinks with and without sugar.

Equipment

Cans of Pepsi and Diet Pepsi, tank with salted water.

Suggestions

Ask your students the question: When you dissolve a cup of sugar in a cup of water, do you get two cups◙of solution?

Setup Time

5 min.
 

Images

f2-07

Description

Unopened cans of Pepsi and Diet Pepsi are floated in a bath of slightly salted water. The Pepsi sinks, while the Diet Pepsi floats. The density of the Pepsi is increased by the dissolved sugar, which occupies space between the water molecules. Diet Pepsi has no additional sugar, and is therefore less dense.

References

Joel Achenbach, Why Things Are, Coke? How Sweet It Is!, Washington Post, Wash., DC. ◙Walter Roy Mellen, Oscillations of Eggs and Things: Behavior of objects in fluids having densities that increase with depth, TPT 32, 474-475 (1994).