The Case of the Exploding Pop Cans - A Sherlock Holmes Mystery

Here's how it happened...

Several days ago, sometime around Christmas or New Years, we pulled a twelve pack of what I believe to be Aldi's Diet Cola - a mimic of Coca Cola - out of the basement and placed it on the steps outside our back door. It had been sitting in the basement for a year or two from when our Grandma wanted some diet soft drinks instead of the regular. But the time had come to trash it or else give it to someone who would drink dead coke. We had someone who would take it but they will remain anonymous.

Anyhow, yesterday the temperatures dropped well below freezing, into the low single-digits. But our day proceeded as normal, Dad went to work, came home and we went to church. And then of course we came home. But there, on our back steps waiting for us, was pop cans strewn about. "Hmm..." said someone, "One of the dogs" they continued, "must have gotten into the cokes." "But wait," said I, stooping down to view the evidence, "look at this." I picked up a can of coke and showed it to my family. It was split all the way down the side with soda, frozen solid, protruding from its wound. "This is no ordinary pop foraging. This can exploded." I turned around again to examine the crime scene. To my dismay, not one but many of the cans had simply burst. So the caution tape went up and the scene went undisturbed for the rest of the night.

This morning I got up (on time) and went about my day as usual. But as I washed my hands after breakfast I heard, *POP*. I looked outside to see another can wobbling to and fro. So I bundled myself up and went out into the cold to take care of the mess. There was cola all over the steps still frozen. Some of it was frozen in place and had to be chipped away at. I found two cans that had been unharmed but they were going through such shock that it was obvious that they would never make it.So they too were put into a garbage bag.

The verdict? I remember once watching a documentary on creation. It was part of a series and I think that this particular video dealt with water or something like that. It explained that the only reason that ice could float is because when water freezes it actually expands. If it condensed it would sink. I recall finding it peculiar because I thought hot air expands and cold air contracts. But cold air I guess is generally less moist than warm air and has more of a tendency to withdraw moisture from objects. The video showed a time-lapse clip of a bottle of milk. As the milk froze its level raised and eventually removed the cork and crawled outside. The same thing happened with the cola except that it had no easy way out of the can so it eventually just burst the can. The force was apparently enough to open the box and throw the cans all over the back steps.

I know I exaggerated the situation somewhat but I found the whole thing pretty amusing and the basic story is true. Thank you for your time.

- Nathan Teal