Here are some things from my practical notes:
Method of Carbon Dioxide Release Acceleration 1: Warming the Drink
• Since this reaction is exothermic, by increasing the temperature, equilibrium will shift to the left to counteract the change, thus producing more carbon dioxide. Furthermore, higher temperatures generally allow for chemical reactions to be carried out at a faster rate (i.e. Kinetic Considerations)
• The drink must be warmed to a temperature below that of its boiling point, and can be done so by placing the beaker in a hot water bath.
• There will be evaporation of the drink, so to account for the loss in the mass of the drink, place water of equal mass to that of the drink into a separate beaker and heat that beaker to the same temperature, and record the amount of water lost through evaporation. The value found from the evaporation of water in the other beaker can be used for the value of the carbonated drink evaporated during the warming process. This is because carbonated drinks are usually composed of 90% water and of 10% additives.
Method of Carbon Dioxide Release Acceleration 2: Adding NaCl
• Add two teaspoons of NaCl to the drink.
• The NaCl will dissolve, releasing more carbon dioxide.
Other Stuff to Know:
• When pouring the contents of the can into the beaker, the entirety of the contents may not have been poured out.
• The time allowed for the carbon dioxide gas to be released may have been insufficient, since nothing was done in order to increase the rate at which the carbon dioxide was released.
• There was the assumption that the results for one brand of soft drink was accepted to be true for other brands.