Oscar De La Huerte answered
I think we've all heard the stories about how if you drop a steak into a bowl full of coke is dissolves away if you leave it for 48 hours.
Unfortunately, this is just a myth - and is responsible a lot of disappointment when it comes to school science projects.
To find out why coke doesn't dissolve meat, and what effect it does have, so below:
How long does it take coca cola to dissolve meat?
If you submerge a piece of meat into a bowl of coke, the meat will slowly begin to tenderize.
This is because the acidity of the coke starts breaking down the meat.
It would then seem plausible that, if you left the steak for a little longer- a week say- it might dissolve into a messy coke and steak soup.
Unfortunately not!
Although the acidity in coke is pretty high (high enough to corrode teeth), it is lacking one special ingredient.
Why doesn't coke dissolve meat? The interesting thing is that coke has about the same pH level (acidity level) as our stomachs.
So what makes our stomach so adept at breaking down Philly-steak sandwiches and Texas T-bones? The answer is enzymes!
Our stomach tenderizes the meat in stomach acid - but it is actually enzymes like Pepsin (no relation to Pepsi I hope!) that do all the hard work.
If you were hoping to dissolve meat through acidity alone, you'd probably need a large vat of highly corrosive acid - perhaps something like Hydrochloric Acid might do the trick!
Unfortunately, this is just a myth - and is responsible a lot of disappointment when it comes to school science projects.
To find out why coke doesn't dissolve meat, and what effect it does have, so below:
How long does it take coca cola to dissolve meat?
If you submerge a piece of meat into a bowl of coke, the meat will slowly begin to tenderize.
This is because the acidity of the coke starts breaking down the meat.
It would then seem plausible that, if you left the steak for a little longer- a week say- it might dissolve into a messy coke and steak soup.
Unfortunately not!
Although the acidity in coke is pretty high (high enough to corrode teeth), it is lacking one special ingredient.
Why doesn't coke dissolve meat? The interesting thing is that coke has about the same pH level (acidity level) as our stomachs.
So what makes our stomach so adept at breaking down Philly-steak sandwiches and Texas T-bones? The answer is enzymes!
Our stomach tenderizes the meat in stomach acid - but it is actually enzymes like Pepsin (no relation to Pepsi I hope!) that do all the hard work.
If you were hoping to dissolve meat through acidity alone, you'd probably need a large vat of highly corrosive acid - perhaps something like Hydrochloric Acid might do the trick!
