Exploding Soda Leaves Chinese Boy In Stitches

A boy in China needed 38 stitches after the can of soda he placed in the freezer suddenly exploded in his face, according to NBC News. The kid was reportedly attempting to quickly chill the beverage by placing it inside the ice box. However, when he opened the soda can in question, it erupted, sending shards of aluminum into his skin.

The boy’s mom announced her son’s injury on Sina Webo, which is essentially the Chinese equivalent of the micro-blogging website Twitter. Her mission: Warn other parents in the country about the dangers of placing carbonated beverages inside freezers. The practice is actually a bit more dangerous than you may initially realize.

According to Live Science, the problem isn’t so much the beverage as it is the carbon dioxide gas. University of Virginia physicist Louis Bloomfield explained, “Once it has been forced out of the water as the water crystallizes, the carbon dioxide accumulates in the small remaining space in the can and the pressure of that gas skyrockets.”

“The can was stressed to its limit and when he introduced new stresses while trying to pop the top, he evidently found the weak point,” he added. “Whereas many cans with tiny defects would already have burst at that point, this particular can was holding on especially long. It might have held out forever, had the boy not handled it.”

For a lot of people, placing soda cans in the freezer is a source of great entertainment. There are a number of interesting, frightening, and dangerous clips of exploding beverage containers all over websites like YouTube. Watching the effects freezing can have on carbonated beverages is apparently a popular pastime for some folks. However, they may rethink their daily activities once word gets around that you can wind up with shrapnel lodged in your face as a result.