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ted_yosem
Sound technical content, curated with aloha by
Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Pine Beach, NJ
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Which soda removes rust best?




Q. I am doing a 7th grade science fair project on which soda removes rust from nails. I chose 4 sodas: Coke, Diet Coke, Orange Soda, and 7 Up. The only problem is that I can't find very much research on this, so I can't form a hypothesis. Please help!

Adrianna H [last name deleted for privacy by Editor]
Student - Springfield, Illinois, USA
2005



2005
"Science Fair projects for Elementary Schools"

on AbeBooks

or Amazon

(affil links)
"Prizewinning Science Fair projects"

on AbeBooks

or Amazon

(affil links)

A. You may not find research on this specific project, Adrianna, because it's actually a trivial subject. By which I mean, let's say Fanta Orange is better at removing rust from nails than 7-Up. So what? Who cares enough to publish a book about that?

Your experiment isn't really about telling an eager world which soda removes rust from nails better -- nobody uses soda to remove rust from nails. Your experiment is actually about "learning the scientific method": what a hypothesis is, what an experiment is, and how and why to proceed.

A hypothesis is just an educated guess that you will try to prove or disprove by experiment. So you tried to do the research and you came up empty; that's okay! Just flip a mental coin, and guess which one is best. I flipped it and I say Coke is best. So that's my hypothesis: "Coke is better at removing rust from nails than Diet Coke, Orange soda, or 7-Up." Form your hypothesis, then conduct your experiment and see whether it supports or disproves your hypothesis. After you have your answer from the experiment, now you can try to research why. Good luck.

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


A. I am also researching a similar topic. Although against what the previous poster said, I have found some research. You can research what chemical reactions form the various acids that remove the rust. I have found that phosphoric acid, an acid nearly as powerful as battery acid this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] , is one of the chemicals that removes rust. Among others are carbonic acid and sodium. There is research on topics similar to this, but when you search use things such as:

Which soda has the most acids
Which soda cleans pennies the best
Why do acids remove rust

James S [last name deleted for privacy by Editor]
- Canton Georgia, US
2007


thumbs up sign Yes, those sound like good search terms, James. Thanks!

Ted Mooney, finishing.com
Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
2007




Q. I am doing the same thing except with pepsi and coke. I can't find much research either; but when you complete it you should add what all you did to help people like us.

Matt U [last name deleted for privacy by Editor]
- Blacksville West Virginia
April 12, 2019




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