Metal finishing Q&As since 1989

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Coca Cola and your health

What does Coca Cola do to your body? Can you show what happens by putting a penny in Coca Cola?

Alice C.
student - Chicago, Illinois
November 8, 2009

Hi, Alice. Coke is sugar, water, and some carbonic/phosphoric acid. It is bad for your teeth, and it spends a lot of your suggested calorie intake on something that has no significant nutritional value.

Personally, I don't think you can demonstrate this by putting a penny in Coca Cola because the penny corroding doesn't prove anything, and lots of things corrode pennies much faster. vinegar [in bulk on eBay or Amazon] will corrode a penny way faster than cola, for example. And the corrosion of the penny is due to the acid in the penny whereas the tooth decay is due to the sugar.

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
November 12, 2009

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Pennies dissolved in Coke a lot faster when I was a kid :-)

Sheldon Taylor
supply chain electronics
Wake Forest, North Carolina
November 12, 2009

Be a kid again and try it. It wasn't close for me. I cut a couple of pennies into eight pie wedges, so the liquid could get right to the zinc. The pies in the vinegar were toast (to prolong the metaphor) in well under a week; the ones in the coke weren't really too badly corroded.

Where's Randy Fowler when we need him?

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
November 12, 2009

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First of two simultaneous responses --

I don't know about being a kid again, how about 25 or so?

Sheldon Taylor
supply chain electronics
Wake Forest, North Carolina
November 17, 2009

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Second of two simultaneous responses --

Don't knock Coca Cola! It may dissolve your teeth if you drink too much of it, but it is a brilliant drink if you are in hot climes and suffer from dehydration or over exposure to the sun. Drink at least 1 large bottle (say 500-1,000 mls) per hour when exposed to the sun and you will replace a lot of the salts you lose by sweating. However, it is pretty useless sunblock, so don't rely on it to prevent the ravages of the sun on your body.

Trevor Crichton
R&D practical scientist
Chesham, Bucks, UK
November 18, 2009

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Soft drinks of any type are a gunsmiths best friend. People who drink soft drinks often spill them on their guns or gun cases and because they can drink it they think that it is harmless. In truth the acids in soft drinks strip blueing, which is actually a form of rust, faster than you can believe. Some gun owners are super smart, or so they think and NEVER consume soft drinks near their firearms. But oh woe is them! The acids in their soft drinks enters their bodies and is released in their sweat so that every time they handle their toys they are slowly eating the finish off. GOD BLESS COKE-COLA!

Rod Henrickson
gunsmith - Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
November 19, 2009