When you want to quickly chill a can of beer or other fizzy drink, what do you do? Stick it in the freezer! Wait a little bit, and then boom, bang, icy deliciousness. We all do this. For one little boy in China, it resulted in an explosion and 38 stitches.
According to RocketNews24, the kid took a frozen soft drink can out of the freezer, and when he pulled back the tab, the can exploded and sent aluminium shrapnel straight into his face. It was a serious injury that required 38 stitches all up on his face and inside his mouth. Yikes! How did this happen?
Well, water (which makes up most of any given soft drink) expands as it freezes, so it takes up more space inside the can. And since a soft drink can is only designed to hold a limited volume of high-fructose corn syrup juice, the freezing effect can push against the physical constraints of the can. Once the container can no longer, um, contain the volume of the content, it will break. The boy was probably unlucky in that when he opened the can, it was the exact moment the pressure inside the can was too much for the can to handle.
It’s an unfortunate situation that could have happened to anyone, and we hope the boy isn’t too traumatised by the accident. For the rest of us, remember to take your carbonated beverage out of the freezer, or maybe cool your drinks in other ways. [RocketNews24 via FoodBeast]
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