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Sparkling Water Explained

January 11, 2010

Sparkling water sounds like something shiny and bright and certainly too hard to make. Sparkling water, sometimes referred to as carbonated water, is also called seltzer water. But it is just ordinary water to which carbon dioxide gas has been added. This is the dominant component of soft drinks. This process of adding carbon dioxide gas forms carbonic acid and gives all these drinks, including soft drinks, their fizzy taste.

Sparkling water is not always mineral water, but is considered by most people to be just that; technically, mineral water is classified as water containing more than 250 parts per million of dissolved minerals. So, some mineral water can be classified sparkling water when carbonated, but not all sparkling water can be called mineral water.

This process of carbonating water began in the 1800’s. A brewer observed that a very interesting taste was made when passing water over fermenting beer.

Today, pressurized CO2 is put into bottles, or can be made with a soda maker at home or in bars and restaurants. When the bottle is opened, the pressure is released, resulting in bubbles. As anyone knows, if you open up a shaken bottle of sparkling water, the water will make a considerable mess as it escapes out of the bottle. Naturally, this happens with soda pop, too.

Soda gets its fizz from this same process. Recently, a discovery was made by (I assume) some kids with nothing else to do. This mischievous individual mixed Mentos breath mints with the aspartame from a diet soda. This causes the CO2 to react violently and shoot straight up rapidly out of the bottle until all the fluid is gone. This little experiment may impress the kids, but it ‘s a bit messy, so I advise not to do it. Instead, if you go to YouTube you can find hundreds of videos of others doing it – often in some very creative ways.

Sparkling water was once used as a cure for stomach complaints. However, now most doctors recommend that people with acid reflux or other chronic stomach problems avoid sparkling water. Nevertheless, it is helpful in calming nausea.

Sparkling water can also be home made: a reusable seltzer bottle is filled with water and then infused with carbon dioxide. A large assortment of calorie free flavors to flavor sparkling water to great taste is sold at allfreightfree.com.

There are sparkling waters that come from sources characterized by natural carbonation. There is a brand of sparkling mineral water with 100% carbonic acid from the source which means that no CO2 has to be added to the water. This particular brand comes from an area noted for volcanic activity. The water there is rich in minerals, owing to the fact that the magma gives off carbon dioxide. This combines with the water, increasing the solubility of the minerals. Naturally carbonated sparkling water is the result; it is considered quite delicious and is also very famous.

So now you know everything you wanted to know about sparkling water and how to make this refreshing and calorie free drink.

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