Perplexing soda can question

[AngryZealot]

I opened a soda can today. Instead of just popping open in an uneventful manner like cans normally do, the can practically exploded on me. Liquid pushed out from the lid and splashed everywhere. It was as if the can was overfilled and there was more liquid in it than the can could hold, and it's not the first time this has happened to me. The more I think about it, the less this makes sense. How could they seal into a container more liquid than the container holds? Do the cans shrink after they are sealed? Perhaps the answer has to do with carbonation, but the carbonation is added before the can is sealed. I'm so confused .

[edit] This was not the same as when you shake up a can. The can was not shaken. There was no fizz to the explosion. The splash was purely from the force of the tab hitting the liquid.

[edit 2] Even after it splashed the liquid level was above the top of the lid. I'm not crazy here people!

 

[Bigfoot3814]

Somebody shook up the can.

 

[Chukchi Husky]

From what I understand, when in a can or a sealed bottle, the carbon dioxide in a fixxy drink is dissolved in the drink (I think it may also have something to do with it being pressurised) and when when the drink is opened the carbon dioxide no longer is dissolved and the drink fizzes up. If a drink is shaken before opening, that can make the carbon dioxide no longer dissolved, so when the drink is opened, it foams everywhere.

 

[Bigfoot3814]

Notice how when you open the can normally, you hear that *hiss*? When the soda spills out, it's basically that happening really fast.

 

[Abaddon]

Have you led a sheltered life?

 

[QuoVadisNation]

That's one of them one in one hundred billion "exploding" soda cans. You should totally go to your lawyer and get yourself a sweet products liability suit.

 

[Mise]

With your nails, tap it 5 times on the top, then 5 on the bottom. I don't know why this works, but it really does...

 

[Bigfoot3814]

Why can't you guys just be nice?

 

[Abaddon]

Because he does not have an avatar..

 

[AngryZealot]

I guess I wasn't clear enough.

This was not the same as when you shake up a can. The can was not shaken. There was no fizz to the explosion. The splash was purely from the force of the tab hitting the liquid.

 

[Stolen Rutters]

Somebody shook up the can.

Exactly. So you've never had this trick payed on you before?

The more technical answer here http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/chem03/chem03164.htm

 

[Bigfoot3814]

Exactly. So you've never had this trick payed on you before?

Well it isn't neccessarilly a trick. The can could have been dropped or something. Sometimes soda cans that aren't very cold have a tendency to spill like this.

 

[DNK]

Cans are filled before the top is attached.

It got shooked up.

 

[Stolen Rutters]

I guess I wasn't clear enough.

This was not the same as when you shake up a can. The can was not shaken. There was no fizz to the explosion. The splash was purely from the force of the tab hitting the liquid.

Ahh, didn't see this post.
Hmm, not shaken? Maybe it had been dropped.

 

[AngryZealot]

Cans are filled before the top is attached.

This is what I thought, but the can was not shaken. Even after it splashed the liquid level was over the top of the lid. The can was cold when opened.

 

[Abaddon]

Damaged in transport?

 

[Cutlass]

Was the can frozen or near to it? That can increase the pressure.

 

[AngryZealot]

No. It was in the refrigerator next to 11 other cans, none of which had this problem.

 

[DNK]

Bacterial or fungal growth maybe. I wouldn't drink anything out of an exploding can that wasn't obviously fizz related.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

The can is obviously a very tiny TARDIS (bigger on the inside than the outside) and the pop is a Changeling from DS9 who stowed away in it.