Diet Coke Explosion

[Brian]

I tried googling to see if this was a common occurrence, but didn't come up with much. So I now turn to the weird stuff gurus of OOT. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

I woke up this morning and made the usual half-awake stumble over to my computer chair only to step all in some sort of brown liquid. At first I thought the dog had diarrhoea'd all over the computer chair mat, but I was brave enough to bend down and do a taste test. Well, not that brave - I sniffed it and realized it was coke. Ok, before the sniffing coke jokes, it was a beverage of some sort. I looked around for the culprit in a sea of Mountain Dew cans only to remember I drink absolutely no dark-colored drinks. I soon realized that the entire computer desk was covered in the substance, and that's when I noticed my mini-refrigerator, which sits at the far end of my long computer desk, was cracked halfway open.

I went over to investigate and the inside was covered top to bottom in coke. I went back to thinking it was the dog for a minute that had somehow got ahold of a drink my girlfriend had left open and inside the refrigerator, until I recovered the Diet Coke can which was completely sliced in half, with the top half not open.

Has anyone ever had this happen before? I haven't changed the temperatures in the refrigerator in a few weeks, but I do like my drinks very cold so I keep the temperature dial on the coldest setting. There's also a mini-freezer in there, but the Diet Coke can that exploded wasn't anywhere near there. Was this explosion powerful enough to knock open the door and send Diet Coke spraying outwards about 5 feet, or did someone leave the door open?

I wish I had pics but when I first saw it, my only thought was cleaning up the huge mess, not writing a post on 2+2 about it later.

-Brian

[kipin]

[Brian]

Lol! I didn't expect my post to get Gladiator'ed, but then again, I wasn't really setting out to entertain, more out of curiosity. I felt like I had to set the story up somewhat though and describe the area, and I guess I made it into more of a story and less of a question than I should have.

So, can any of the science people explain to me how/why this happened? It was only 1 drink that exploded, and it had been in there for a while. I google'd it and asked a few friends but no one had heard of it before.

-Brian

[brassnuts]

No. But, I've forgot about my share of beers in freezer.

[Benholio]

Thats what happens if you leave a can of diet coke in the freezer, so I'd assume that a really cold 'fridge could do the same thing.

On a related note, I had something similar happen to me when I left a can of diet coke in my car during a hot summer week. That [censored] took forever to clean up. Glad it didn't go off while I was in the car, I bet aluminum shrapnel in the eyes doesn't feel good.

[Benholio]

I once left a beer in the ice maker during a party (fastest place to get it cold quick, IN the ice!), which resulted in free beer foam with every ice purchase for a while.

[Blarg]

Strange that it exploded so violently. I've had uncountable dozens of cokes and diet cokes explode in freezers, but I can't recall so much as hearing it. Definitely never had it kick the door open and rocket around the room.

Often the leak is so tiny it's hard to find it, and most of the coke is still in the bloated can.

[JinX11]

Yes, I've had this happen....

I assume your mini-fridge has a small freezer compartment, yes? Never place a coke on the shelf directly under the freezer compartment - they will explode. Had it happen twice with Sprites....

[drewjustdrew]

I would imagine normal violence, but usually we see this happen in large freezers, where there is room to explode. Since it was a small fridge I imagine it's possible