Hey Ray

Popping pop or is it soda? Either way, it gets messy | Hey Ray

By Ray Petelin

October 11, 2025 / 7:39 AM EDT / CBS Pittsburgh

Hey Ray: Popping Pop

How about a messy experiment today? This is one that is going to make a can of pop "pop"!

Carbonated beverages are under pressure and usually come in bottles or cans. For our experiment today, we are going to use cans.

That's a lot of pop... Getty Images

The premise behind this experiment is essentially a bet: a bet that someone cannot open a can of pop without using the pull tab or puncturing any part of the can. It sounds impossible, but we can use some simple science to open a can of pop with these rules.

Before we get started, I want you to know that this is an experiment that will make a BIG mess and will make parts of the can become very sharp.

This should only be done under the supervision of a responsible adult.

Normally, this is how you would open the can, but we're going to do something a bit differently. Ray Petelin

Usually, you open a can of pop by pulling up the tab. The tab acts like a lever, pushing down on the mouth of the can.

That is the area that has sort of a weakened area to make opening the can easier.

Today, we are not going to use the tab, and we are going to cause the mouth part of the can to pop upward, making a loud pop and a big mess. All we need to do this is a marker, like a Sharpie.

You're going to need to use the back of the Sharpie, not actually draw on it! Ray Petelin

All you do is push down on the Sharpie with a little force and rub it back and forth around the lower edge of the rim. Don't do this where the mouth of the can is, you will lose the bet.

Rub just below that area. Just keep doing that, and soon...the can explodes from the top, making a big mess.

Yeah, it's gonna get messy! Ray Petelin

You can see the mouth pop upward. This is very sharp metal, so be very, very careful.

Here's the end result, but again, be careful because this is very sharp! Ray Petelin

Obviously, there has to be some sort of science behind this mess.

What you are doing is pushing downward and rubbing back and forth along the rim near the mouth. This stresses the aluminum, where the mouth was pre-weakened for the pull tab to push down. The back-and-forth motion also causes some minor shaking of the pop inside the can.

That shaking disturbs the carbon dioxide in the pop, causing a push on the walls of the can.

As you can see, it all needs a place to escape. Ray Petelin

This culminates in an explosion of science...and pop!

You can see the pressure released when the mouth of the can pops upward. That is followed by a huge mess. Now you see why I did this experiment outside!

Now the can is truly "pop" Ray Petelin

We did a segment a while back about how to make a can of pop not explode on you if it was shaken up. You can find that here.

Ray Petelin

Meteorologist Ray Petelin joined the KDKA Weather Team in October 2018, but is no stranger to the weather in Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania. He has been forecasting in Pittsburgh since 2011 and in Western PA since January of 2003.