Soda Fizzzz

   Have you ever shaken a soda bottle and then opened it and let all the fizz blow out or, taking a big 2 liter soda and dropping mentors in it? I definitely have. That fizz is carbon dioxide (CO2). Soft drink manufacturers add this fizz by forcing CO2 and water in to the soda at extremely high pressures. The pressures can range from 100 to 1,200 pounds per square inch. The carbon dioxide (fizz) actually takes up most of the soda.

   Once you open a soda, that "fssst" sound is all of the millions of carbon dioxide molecules bursting out of the can/bottle after being forced in. Normally if you open a soda bottle for the second time there is either no fizz, or very little at all and that is because the first time you opened it all of the CO2 molecules escaped. This requires energy because in order for the gas to break free from the liquid it has to overcome the force holding the liquid together. This process can either be slow or fast depending on the pressure inside. Here is a picture of a soda with fizz (CO2) bursting out of the top.

Soda Fizz Research 2

Soda Fizz Research 3

Soda Fizz Research

Sublimation

I guess drinking a beverage with dry ice wasn't a good idea. Of course it's not safe at all and at the time I did not know that. I was at a restaurant for a birthday party and they didn't seem to know that danger of dry ice. I just learned that if I would have accidentally swallowed a piece I could've been sent to a hospital and in a lot of pain. Dry ice's temperature can range from -109.3°F or -78.5° and putting something that cold inside the body of a human being is very very dangerous. Here is a picture of Dry Ice:

Sublimation is the transition of the solid to the gas phase without passing through an intermediate liquid phase. Dry ice was an example but another one is iodine. Dry ice is a dangerous thing, but iodine is recorded to be useful for preventing breast cancer, eye disease, diabetes, and heart diseases and strokes with little amounts taken by the mouth. Iodine sublimates at a temperature of 236.7°F (113.7°C). That is much colder that dry ice, but still seems to prevent sicknesses.

Polar Vortex

    The sudden dropping of temperature throughout the United States has been labeled as The Polar Vortex. This Polar Vortex has broken records made decades ago with its extreme freezing weather. A Polar Vortex is a phenomenon that occurs during the polar winter and stratospheric air moves in a circular motion.  The air circulating from the North Pole moves downward as the Earth starts to rotate on it axis pushing the winds along with it. The temperature in the vortex can be approximately -130 degrees F (-80 degrees C).  This Polar Vortex has effected many citizens in the U.S. as it sweeps freezing air and snow through the country. People up north have lost power, have no heat, and some families have had to stay in Red Cross Shelters. Winds have even reached Texas.  The windchill got to 0° in the North Eastern Dallas area with a temperature at 15°. I can definitely agree on calling this a Polar Vortex.

ABC News Interviews Vortex

Polar Vortex Definition