The pH of Commercial Sodas And The Effects They Have On The Human Body
Everyday we consume different types of drinks to quench our thirst; commercial sodas are one of the most popular. These carbonated and extremely sugary products are known to be not so good for bodies and especially our teeth. But why is this? And does the pH of these commercial sodas have any direct effect? We decided to find out.
In chemistry, pH is a measure of the acidity or basicity of an aqueous solution. Solutions with a pH less than 7 are said to be acidic and solutions with a pH greater than 7 are basic or alkaline. Pure water has a pH very close to 7. We decided to look into this factor specifically and find out whether or not pH decides whether a soda is good or not for the human body and if it is any direct factor on the decomposition of tooth enamel. We decided to investigate using four different types of soda that are very popular on today’s market. We chose Pepsi, Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, and Mountain Dew specifically for a few reasons. We are using Pepsi and Coca-Cola because they are fierce competitors when it comes to today’s commercial soda market, and we want to see which is better for you and although they are practically the same drink, if they have hidden differences within them. We specifically chose Diet Coke because it is supposed to be better for you, hence the “Diet” in its name. We want to find out if this really is the case. We then chose Mountain Dew because it is actually known as one of the worst sodas for you due to its sugary content. We also stirred samples of these sodas to take away their original carbonation to compare results as well. We stirred the samples for two minutes on the setting of four, then another minute and a half on the setting of five. Then for a final minute we stirred it on the setting of six. This will help us figure out if the carbonation of these products has any direct effect as well. We...