Top tip or not?

"Dropped your coke? Gently turn the can upside down, tap the bottom gently twice with your finger and gently turn back. Hey Presto, greatly reduced/no froth." -- b3ta newsletter 123

That sounded like rubbish. The Urban Legends Reference Pages said it was rubbish. But rather that simply whine "that doesn't work", I decided to test this theory out scientifically.

Real ultimate fizz

I managed to obtain the services of a genuine Cola Ninja. No, he wasn't cheap, but an experiment like this demanded highly qualified and trained personnel.

Cola Ninjas are expert in both overt and covert shaking of cans. Ever opened a can of cola that had been sitting idle for ages, and which should by all rights have had no fizz at all — but for some reason it sprayed everywhere and made you a laughing stock? You were the victim of a Cola Ninja, my friend. But fortunately, this Cola Ninja was on our side.

Before he began on the real task, the Cola Ninja performed some warmup moves, Bruce Lee-style.

At this point, I began to have doubts that I had hired a genuine Cola Ninja. He had assured me that despite his mask being made from a t-shirt and his name being "Graeme", he was a properly certified ninja. Nevertheless, it was too late to change now. We pressed on.

Purchasing scientific materials

Our local shop was only too happy to overcharge us for six 330ml cans and one two-litre bottle of a certain name-brand cola. You'll notice that the brand name in question has been blurred out in all these photos. This is because it makes us look "subversive", "indie", and "cool". Possibly.

We got a funny look from the person manning the checkout, but the threat of the Cola Ninja flipping out was enough to quell their interest.

We also bought bread. Not for the experiment, we just wanted some toast.

Suitably armed with scientific materials, we set up the cans on a picnic table outside.

Scientific method

The cans were divided into three pairs. For each pair, the Cola Ninja would shake both cans with the same vigour; then a brave test subject would invert both cans, and tap only one of them gently twice. Then, the cans would be opened.

We couldn't find a brave test subject, so I volunteered.

For the first pair of cans, the Cola Ninja gave each can a brief shake - perhaps the kind of surreptitious shake that an enemy might perform on your can if they were pressed for time.

We admired the style and grace of his movements.

Then, I inverted both cans, tapped one, and opened them. There was a little foaming, but nothing too spectacular; there didn't appear to be much difference between the two. It was, all told, quite disappointing.

We moved on to the next pair of cans.

These received a thorough shake and an honourable bow from the ninja.

The opening procedure was repeated; this time, there was a significant amount of foam spray, but still little noticeable difference. The tapping didn't seem to be having an effect.

The ninja expressed his displeasure at my staying dry. At this point, I noticed he spoke with a strong Scouse accent, and I began to doubt his origins further.

Flipping out

It was time for the third set of cans. The ninja unleashed his Real Ultimate Shaking Power on these cans for almost a minute; it was truly an amazing sight to behold. I was worried that the ninja would lose control, but he kept his cool admirably.

With some trepidation, I stepped up, tapped one can and opened both. The cola fizzed out with remarkable force; I wasn't quick enough to move my hand away. But still, there was no major explosion of cola, and the tapping had not dissipated any foam.

Bringing in the big guns

The ninja turned to me sagely and pointed to the two-litre bottle of cola. I was hoping not to have to use it, but alas, it seemed that the fates had deemed it necessary.

To those who have never seen a Cola Ninja flip out with a large cola bottle in person, be thankful. The sight will strike fear into the heart of any mortal man.

Stand well back

I stepped up to the cola bottle, turned it, and gave it two sharp hits on its base. If the advice was right, I thought, then I should be able to open this bottle without fear; for the bubbles will have come to the top and hardly any cola should erupt.

The advice was wrong.

The ninja yelled "Yes!" and laughed mercilessly. I realised I had been fooled, and cursed him.

Scientific measurement

Some good came of my misfortune. Afterwards, I measured the amount of cola left in each of the cans and drew up a table.

Cola remaining in cans (ml)

	Minor Shaking	Moderate Shaking	Real Ultimate Power
Tapped can	325	310	300
Untapped can	320	305	270

Amazingly, in each case the tapped can produced less foam! Granted, the amount was small and well within the margin of error for an experiment like this, but I didn't care - I had a result! Thank you, Cola Ninja, whoever you are!