SCIENCE EXPERIMENT IN THE REFRIGERATOR

No, I’m not referring to moldy leftovers, not this time. ;-)

Earlier this afternoon, I was searching the refrigerator for something that looked tasty to fix for my lunch when I spied something rather unusual. There was a Coke can lying on one of the refrigerator shelves. Nothing terribly strange about that, except that we really don’t drink Coke very often and this can had probably been around for awhile. The odd thing was the shape of the can. You know what a soda can looks like after you empty it then give it a bit of a squeeze to squish it before you toss it into the recycle bin? That’s what this one looked like – except that it was unopened and definitely not empty.

Whoa! I reached for the can and picked it up carefully, checking to make sure there wasn’t a sticky mess underneath it. No, no mess. But the can was definitely closed. Oh, my goodness! Was it about to explode? I had no idea, but I wanted it out of the refrigerator – and out of the house – as quickly as possible, just in case. I held the can gingerly and kept my eyes on it as I carefully hurried to the front door and out into the yard. I figured I’d just put it in the yard, just set it out in the grass, just in case. In fact, I put it WAY out in the yard, far enough from the house so it wouldn’t fly through a window if it did explode, just in case.

Well, it’s an hour later and the can is still setting out there in the sun. It finally occurred to me that it probably won’t explode because the gas in it must have seeped out. In fact, I guess it has already sort of imploded. If my guys were here, I would ask them if they remember the weather presentation and demonstration that Jay Hilgartner, our former local TV weatherman, did for us at the library years ago. Something about heating a can and atmospheric pressure and the can suddenly squished up – sort of like this one except his can was empty to start with. I’m not very good at science and I don’t remember the details. When my husband gets home, he’ll explain it to me I’m sure, after I explain to him why there’s a Coke can setting out in the yard. I probably still won’t understand the scientific explanation, but I’m just glad I don’t have to clean sticky, exploded Coca-Cola off the entire inside of the refrigerator. Whew!