Coca Cola readying self-chilling soft drinks?

And you thought non-stick chewing gum was the heat. Turns out, Coca Cola may be plotting a new version of Sprite that actually chills itself upon opening. Apparently, the drink has to be kept at a specified temperature before being snapped up, and once the oh-so-thirsty consumer pops the top, "a mechanism inside creates ice made from the drink, so it is not diluted." Reportedly, the beverage would sensibly be called Sprite Super Chilled, and if it does indeed hit the UK (and prove successful) by "early next year," the technology could then be passed along to Coke, Diet Coke or even "super cold alcoholic drinks, particularly beers."

[Via Tech Digest]

[Ted Brown @ Sep 17th 2007 3:37PM]

And then someone will claim it causes cancer....

[Nikola @ Sep 17th 2007 4:52PM]

No it will just continue circulating throughout your body till it lowers your core temperature, at which point you die of "brain freeze".

[Beamey @ Sep 17th 2007 5:04PM]

i figure that the increased consumption of Sprite this will cause will give you cancer. Let alone the alcoholics it will create if they can do the same with beer.

[Larz @ Sep 17th 2007 6:45PM]

True.

"the drink has to be kept at a specified temperature"

What? Why not just avoid all the complication and make that "specific temperature" like 40f?

[E71 @ Sep 17th 2007 7:02PM]

Oh man, when you filter out all the Apple crap all of a sudden cool news like this one appears. Nice.

[Charlie Calhoun @ Sep 17th 2007 8:26PM]

@E71

Word.

[Leon @ Sep 18th 2007 2:54PM]

"What? Why not just avoid all the complication and make that "specific temperature" like 40f?"

Because given standard room temperature, it costs more energy to keep something at 40 degrees than at a higher temperature.

[NovaLand @ Sep 18th 2007 1:18AM]

In my fridge at home, If I keep my coke at a certain level, it will become all icey and slushy when i open it up. Before that it's all pure runny and watery. So I have this very situation in my own fridge =)

[ukickmydog (NDF - Earth) @ Sep 17th 2007 3:40PM]

will be found to cause cancer in 3 years

[ukickmydog (NDF - Earth) @ Sep 17th 2007 3:40PM]

lol, wow, what are the odds...

[Preston @ Sep 17th 2007 3:42PM]

I don't even want to know what chemicals they're going to use to accomplish this.

[Anthony @ Sep 17th 2007 4:14PM]

No kidding. Plus- we're finally getting people to recycle. I wonder how this will impact that.

[Nick @ Sep 18th 2007 9:27AM]

lets just all hope SONY isnt involved otherwise there is gonna be an outbreak of bottles exploding when people go to open the bottle.

[synthaxx @ Sep 17th 2007 3:44PM]

CAUSES CANCER!

damn... why am i allways late with these things :(

Looks good though, but i'm guessing that (besides the cancer) there are some other things in there which aren't too good for the enviroment.

[HOLLAND @ Sep 17th 2007 3:45PM]

I think its COOL

[empurium @ Sep 17th 2007 3:47PM]

Instantly ice cold beer? Where do I sign?

[AdamY @ Sep 17th 2007 4:15PM]

Word!

Hell might even be worth the cancer.

Gentlemen, the gods of frosty brews have smiled upon us today!

[Andrew Stone @ Sep 17th 2007 6:21PM]

Can you IMAGINE the tailgating possibilities? No more carrying a cooler to the game would be sweet... just snag the case and you are good to go.

Sign me up.

[Xavier Gill @ Sep 17th 2007 3:48PM]

What was that cancer drink by Coke, Dasani water?

[Z @ Sep 17th 2007 3:50PM]

So if you gulp it down fast enough after you twist open the bottle, it would freeze your tongue, teeth and everything along the way too?

[Senor_Tom @ Sep 17th 2007 4:02PM]

yes, that would probably kill you...which would probably be good.
As that would mean, all the fat kids who want to drink there sugary goodness and get bigger, will be gone.
Its like a mass cull.

[Xee @ Sep 17th 2007 7:24PM]

That's incredibly insensitive but it made me laugh.

[octoberasian @ Sep 17th 2007 3:52PM]

Wait... if they intend to use a chemical similar to that in freeze packs, isn't that chemical stated to be toxic or non-toxic, but NON-edible? >_>

I hear a lawsuit coming even before the drink is released.

[Stefan @ Sep 17th 2007 9:43PM]

ok... there was obviously not enough information in this article to start saying shit like the chemicals are IN the drink or CANCER or watever. theyve had things liek this before with top ramen type noodles that heat themselves up... the only problem was (as it seems to be in this case) is that unless it was stored at liek room temperature or so, it wouldnt heat up to the right temperature. if it was hot to begin with when the heating started, it would get too hot. if it was too cold to start with, the soup wouldnt get hot enough.

[anonymouspimp @ Sep 17th 2007 3:53PM]

I am glad they are trying it somewhere else first. Cuz if it were here in the states I don't know if I could keep myself from trying it. And I don't wanna die. lol

[Scott Goosman @ Sep 17th 2007 4:01PM]

This will not cause cancer. Likely all they are doing is using thermodynamics to their benifit. This already happens when you through a drink in the freezer, get it close to freezing and then open. The whole drink turns to a slushy. If you control the pressure or the exact temperature, you control the ice formation!

[BJ @ Sep 17th 2007 10:13PM]

Bingo. It'll be something that uses or enhances the partial vacuum created when you open the bottle. That lowers the temp and "slushes" the top inch or two of Coke. It's awesome when you can get it to happen.

[HineyWipe @ Sep 17th 2007 4:01PM]

So much for global warming...gotta wait till the earth is at the right temperature...yeah...

[dataminer49er @ Sep 17th 2007 4:02PM]

If I drop a Menthos into one will it make snow?

[Blaine Oliver @ Sep 17th 2007 4:04PM]

I sure hope so :)

[Senor_Tom @ Sep 17th 2007 4:09PM]

wow, snow in the UK...
that would be magic :)

[octoberasian @ Sep 17th 2007 4:14PM]

The moment this comes out in the UK, tell us right away and I will personally ship you a pack of Mentos from the state. I can't wait to see you make snow out of this. XD

[chezzo @ Sep 17th 2007 4:23PM]

Surprisingly enough it's possible to find Methos in the UK
But actually, Trebor Soft Mints are just as effective. And more British :D

[chezzo @ Sep 17th 2007 4:24PM]

*Mentos* sorry :p

[simplephysics @ Sep 17th 2007 4:06PM]

K, some of you need to "chill" with the cancer scares! lol

Here's how they do it: Supersaturate the drink with extra CO2... The same stuff that makes the bubbles in soda/beer. If you put a bunch extra in the drink, it builds pressure. When you open the bottle, the pressure suddenly drops. As pressure drops, the temperature drops as well, cooling the surroundings (in this case, the drink).

No chemicals, no magic... just physics!

[John Stracke @ Sep 17th 2007 4:13PM]

But...doesn't extra carbon dioxide mean it's more likely to spray when opened?

[Chris @ Sep 17th 2007 4:14PM]

"No chemicals, no magic... just physics!"

Are you sure you don't mean "fizz"-ics?

Yes, I should be pun-ished for that one.

[Telp @ Sep 17th 2007 4:16PM]

If that's all it is, how come it hasn't been done sooner?

[MasterCKO @ Sep 17th 2007 4:16PM]

/me kills Chris

8^P

[Mike10010100 @ Sep 17th 2007 4:59PM]

@telp

because the science behind holding such a pressure in has not been there until now.

also, for the original statement, yes that is an excellent idea, and

[jimmyfinch @ Sep 17th 2007 7:11PM]

So lets see...

1) Temperature is the average random molecular kinetic energy in a substance for a given volume. (Lets say the volume of a liter bottle.)

2) To reduce the temperature, the gas must expand. The measure of temperature now is lower due to the molecular kinetic energy being more spread out. (This is done by twisting off the cap.)

3)Voila, 10 cents of ice cold sprite in a $20 container!

I am going to try to figure out how much CO2 or compressed gas we need to put into 1 liter of sprite (and expand it) to chill it from 75F to 32F. Look for my answer later.

Any other thermodynamics hobbyists out there?

[John @ Sep 17th 2007 8:40PM]

Well, if somebody knows the Joule-Thomson coefficient of CO2 at room temperature... (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joule-Thomson_effect)

[Jim Pollock @ Sep 17th 2007 8:47PM]

if you read the rest of the press release, the container is made of aircraft grade titanium, retails for $14.95 per bottle or $75 for a six-pack. Also, read the warning label: This will put your eye out.

Jim

[t-bone @ Sep 17th 2007 4:10PM]

Do you honestly think they are sitting around trying to figure out how to give people cancer? There's no way these would go on sale if they weren't safe in the same sense that Coca-Cola is safe.

[Ted Brown @ Sep 17th 2007 4:49PM]

Well I was making a joke, the joke being that people claim that everything causes cancer.

[fetymann @ Sep 18th 2007 12:55PM]

They're not thinking of ways to cause cancer, they already know this crap can cause it, and THE FDA DOES NOTHING ABOUT IT, ITS ALL ABOUT MAKING MONEY! Same story with the drug companies. They all could care less about our health.

[Daniel @ Sep 17th 2007 4:10PM]

Actually, if you freeze a sprite or a coke (diet drinks dont work) to a certain temperature just using a freezer, you can make it cold enough that ice wont appear in the drink until you open it and the oxygen hits the drink. It appears as if the drink is freezing right before your eyes and it is totally natural given the temperature of the drink/

[JustZisGuy @ Sep 18th 2007 12:32PM]

@Daniel

The phenomenon you are referring to is called supercooling. Why you don't observe it with diet soft drinks probably has to do more with the change in freezing point caused by the lack of sugar rather than the added sugar alcohols (they're in a very low concentration). The soda freezing before your eyes isn't because of oxygen, but because the liquid is disturbed enough to form an ice nucleus. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supercooled for a description or http://f0rked.com/articles/supercooling for some neat videos.

[Patrick Drummond @ Sep 17th 2007 4:10PM]

Just what we need. More materials added to beverage containers to help stuff our landfills even faster.

[Eric @ Sep 17th 2007 4:11PM]

Why can't I ever live in the test-market? They always send the new stuff somewhere else first.