ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Phosphate soda

Phosphate soda is a type of fizzy drink that was popular a long time ago. Imagine if you took some tasty fruit syrup, added some bubbles to it, and then added something called phosphoric acid. The phosphoric acid is what makes it different from other fizzy drinks. It adds a little bit of tangy flavor and also makes the bubbles last longer.

Now, let's break down the different parts of that explanation for you.

First, imagine going to a soda shop in the olden days. They would have a big machine with all different kinds of syrups. These syrups were made from fruits like cherries, raspberries, or lemons. When you ordered a phosphate soda, they would take some of the fruit syrup and put it in a glass.

But just having the syrup in the glass wouldn't make it fizzy. The next step was adding bubbles! You know how water can sometimes have bubbles in it like when you shake a bottle of water? Well, they would do something similar to make the soda fizzy. They would take a pressurized tank of carbon dioxide (CO2) and put a little bit of it into the glass with the fruit syrup. The CO2 would mix with the syrup and create bubbles.

Now, here's where the phosphoric acid comes in. Just having bubbles in a drink isn't enough to make it a phosphate soda. The phosphoric acid is what makes it special. Phosphoric acid is a type of acid (like vinegar) that is made from a mineral called phosphorus. It's not a strong acid, so it won't hurt you. But it does add a little bit of tangy flavor to the soda.

The other thing that phosphoric acid does is it helps the bubbles last longer. Normally, bubbles in a fizzy drink will eventually disappear. But the phosphoric acid in a phosphate soda helps the bubbles stay around for a little bit longer.

So that's what a phosphate soda is! It's a fizzy drink made with fruit syrup, carbon dioxide, and a little bit of tangy phosphoric acid.