Priestly lived next to a brewery and was apparently intrigued by the ‘air’ that floated over fermenting grain. His experiments showed that this ‘heavier-than-air’ gas was able to extinguish burning wood chips. This gas would later be identified as carbon dioxide.
He poured acid onto chalk and heavy gas resulted. In the year 1772, Priestly invented ‘an apparatus for making aerated water’, which he exhibited to the Royal College of Physicians, and upon which the college reported favorably. It was the discovery of carbon dioxide that made the stabilization of a non-alcoholic drink attainable.
Originally carbon dioxide was released from bicarbonate of soda, which is where the name soda is derived. The word pop was originated from the sound made the corks were removed from soda bottles.
Carbonated beverages did not achieve great popularity in America until 1832, when John Mathews invented his apparatus for the making carbonated water.
The invention of carbonated drinks
