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How much carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere when you open a can of Coke ?

Then, what is the annual global amount of carbon dioxide released from fizzy drinks ? Are fizzy drinks bad for the planet or an ideal way to cool down as the planet gets hotter ?

Doing an experiment measuring the decrease in the mass of a 500ml coke bottle when you open it (being very careful to not allow any spray of the liquid itself) I reckon on about 2.5g of carbon dioxide in that volume. Some is left dissolved in the liquid, and some is bound up as carbonic acid (a weak acid produced by dissolving carbon dioxide in water). So I’d guess around 5g per half litre, or 10g per litre. That makes it 10x less polluting than driving one kilometre in a Prius or 20x less than an SUV :)

So it’s not that bad for the planet – there are more important factors!

This entry was posted on Friday, October 16th, 2009 at 8:14 pm and is filed under released. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

12 Responses to “How much carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere when you open a can of Coke ?”

  1. WOW, Good question…but i don’t know the answer….
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  2. About the same amount as a can of Pepsi.
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  3. hunterhousegirl on October 17th, 2009 at 2:40 am

    None. They’re just a way of cooling u down.
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    Common Sense

  4. no because the carbon dioxide was here long before us an so was the planet an here were are worring about it the planet will out live us all and if not we will evolve to live in its new enviroment
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  5. stevenhawkins2208 on October 17th, 2009 at 3:18 am

    i think you are getting mixed up with carbon monoxide, that comes out of car exausts. trees need dioxide to live so bring on the cola war!!!
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  6. u really asked a good question even i dnt the answer i appreciate ur thinking abt our mother earth
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    kkkkk

  7. well it depends on the size of the can
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  8. Only a fraction of the methane that you release when you fart
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  9. The amount of CO2 produced by the energy used to manufacture and distribute the Coke is vastly larger than the CO2 in the fizz. Anyway, the CO2 used in the fizz may have been produced in a way that actually removes it form the atmosphere, for example by capturing it from an exhaust stream that would have otherwise just been emitted into the air.
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  10. I don’t know how much but I’m sure you breath out more in every breath. So I wouldn’t worry about it or you could always try not breathing ;)
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  11. 36 megatonnes, sounds a lot but it about one hundred thousandth of that produced by a marboro red cigarette !
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    national science magazine

  12. Doing an experiment measuring the decrease in the mass of a 500ml coke bottle when you open it (being very careful to not allow any spray of the liquid itself) I reckon on about 2.5g of carbon dioxide in that volume. Some is left dissolved in the liquid, and some is bound up as carbonic acid (a weak acid produced by dissolving carbon dioxide in water). So I’d guess around 5g per half litre, or 10g per litre. That makes it 10x less polluting than driving one kilometre in a Prius or 20x less than an SUV :)

    So it’s not that bad for the planet – there are more important factors!
    References :
    My own experiment, done a few years back.

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