If you dropped a soda can, what’s the first thing you do? A lot of people start tapping on it, thinking that will help.
But as it turns out, tapping it might not be doing much. When a carbonated drink gets shaken, tiny bubbles form inside the liquid. And if you open the can right away, the sudden drop in pressure can lead to a foamy explosion.
The problem is that tapping it also creates more bubbles. Which means more pressure buildup. They even did a study in 2019 with more than 1,000 beer cans, and they found no difference between tapped and untapped cans.
So, what’s the better move after a beer or soda gets shaken up? Let the can sit upright for a few minutes . . . and crack it open slowly. This lets the gas escape first and hopefully saves you from dealing with a big cleanup.