As a carbonated drink, such as soda, is heated, what happens to the solubility of carbon dioxide gas in the drink?
Most gases have less solubility as the temperature of the liquid solute increases. Wouldn't that make sense to you? You know that if you leave an opened carbonated drink on the table for several minutes that it goes flat. That's because the temperature of the cold drink increases, the CO2 bubbles out (you can see that happening) and soon there is almost no CO2 left and the drink tastes flat.
When a carbonated drink, such as soda, is heated, the solubility of carbon dioxide gas in the drink decreases. This is because, according to Henry's Law, the solubility of a gas in a liquid is directly proportional to the partial pressure of the gas above the liquid.
As the temperature of the liquid increases, the kinetic energy of the gas molecules also increases. This causes the gas molecules to move more vigorously and escape from the liquid more easily, resulting in a decrease in solubility. In other words, the higher temperature disrupts the equilibrium between dissolved carbon dioxide and the gaseous carbon dioxide above the liquid.
To understand this concept further, Henry's Law can be applied. According to Henry's Law, at a constant temperature, the solubility of a gas is directly proportional to the partial pressure of the gas. As the temperature increases, the partial pressure of the dissolved carbon dioxide will no longer be in equilibrium with the partial pressure of the gas above the liquid, causing the carbon dioxide to be released as gas bubbles.
Therefore, when you heat a carbonated drink, the solubility of the carbon dioxide decreases, leading to the loss of dissolved carbon dioxide in the form of gas bubbles, resulting in a decrease in carbonation or fizziness of the drink.