Hooked on Science: Learn which kind of soda can float

Which will float: A diet soda or a regular soda? You can use a few ingredients from around the house to find out.

Materials

* Diet soda, unopened

* Regular soda, unopened

* Water

* Transparent container

Instructions

STEP 1: Fill the transparent container halfway with water.

STEP 2: Drop the regular soda into the transparent container.

STEP 3: Drop the diet soda down into the transparent container.

Explanation

Artificial sweetener is used to make diet soda taste sweet. It takes less of the artificial sweetener to make the diet soda taste as sweet as the regular soda. This is the reason the diet soda is less dense when compared to the regular soda.

Jason Lindsey is a science outreach educator with Hooked on Science. Check out his website www.hookedonscience.org for webcasts and experiments that might get you hooked on science. Send him your science questions at jlindsey@hookedonscience.com. More science experiments can be found at www.semissourian.com.