My topic to present at KIC is Diet Soda research. My partners, Brent Wheeler, Ricky Hyde, and I got the idea of researching soda from one of the former KIC journals. Also because soda sounds like a really interesting subject.
For KIC the question we are investigating is “Is it possible to tell the difference between the diet form of soda and the regular?” My hypothesis is that you can’t tell the difference between them. We were wondering if you can actually tell if you are drinking diet soda or regular soda. We got the idea of this question from one of the former KIC journals we saw on the internet.
The diet form of a soda and the regular do not have many differences as far as ingredients go. The ingredients in regular Pepsi are carbonated water, caffeine, high fructose corn syrup, phosphoric acid, citric acid, caramel color, natural flavors, and sugar. The ingredients in diet Pepsi are carbonated water, caffeine, caramel color, aspartame, phosphoric acid, potassium, benzoate, citric acid, and natural flavors. As you can see the ingredients in diet soda aren’t that much different than regular. There are only 4 ingredients that differ. In the IKC journal from April 27, 1999 there was an article called the Great Soda Challenge written by Kevin. KIC investigation was very similar to ours. I found the list of ingredients for all Pepsi products on this website, www.pepsi.com/current/index.html. I also learned on that website that there are different kinds of Pepsi products except for soda. For example water and fruit drinks.
This is how I gathered data to start answering my question. First I gathered all the materials needed to try an experiment. Next I had one of my partners, Brent, give a blind taste test to me with Coke in one cup and Diet Coke in another. I was ale to pick which one had Coke and which one had Diet Coke. Then I did the same to Brent. I filled one cup with Diet Coke and the other with Coke. He was able to pick out which one was which. Later Brent tried giving the blind taste test to hid mom and his brother with Coke in one cup and Diet Coke in another. His mom could tell which cup Diet Coke was in and which cup Coke was in, but Brent’s brother couldn’t tell which cup had Diet Coke and which cup had Coke in it. After that I did some research on Pepsi and Diet Pepsi. Finally Ricky, Brent, and I had a taste test with 17 people had a taste test with 17 people in our homeroom class. Ricky brought in the soda for the experiment. Brent and I put the Coke and Diet Coke bottles down in the refrigerator, in the teacher’s lounge to make it cold for the test. We then labeled the cups for the test A and B. Sometimes we put Diet Coke in A and sometimes we put Coke in A. The results of the taste test were that 19 out of 21 people could tell the difference between Coke and Diet Coke. I found out through my research that it would probably be hard to tell the difference between the two because there are only 4 ingredients that differ. The control in this experiment was soda. There were two variables in my experiment, they were how hot or cold the soda was at the time of the test.
I discovered many things in doing my research. One thing I discovered was that only 4 ingredients differ between Diet Pepsi and Pepsi, potassium, benzoate, aspartame, and high fructose corn syrup. I also learned that the main ingredient in Pepsi products are carbonated water, carbohydrates, sugar, sodium, potassium, and caffeine. One more thing I learned was that to some people Coke and Diet Coke taste different. For example Brent and I were able to pick out which cup was filled with Coke and which was filled with Diet Coke. As some students were taking the taste test they were saying that Coke an Diet Coke taste much different. They also said that Diet Coke tasted more watered down than Coke does. My hypothesis for this experiment was that you can’t tell the difference between the diet form of soda and the regular. According to the experiments my group and I did, my hypothesis was wrong. We concluded that it is possible to tell the difference between the diet form of a soda and the regular. As I thought soda is an interesting subject to do research on.
There are many things a student next year could do with their subject being soda. One thing you could do is what I am doing, a blind taste test, but using different sodas, such as Bargs Root Beer and Mug Root Beer, and Sprite and Sierra Mist. It would be very interesting to use sodas like these. One thing that I really wanted to do but didn’t have time to do was see if diet soda has different effects on your body than regular. A question that a later student might want to investigate for KIC is “what would happen if you made your own Pepsi and Diet Pepsi and mixed them together.” There are instructions on how to make Pepsi on the website, www.pepsi.com/current/index.html.