Angela Baffa, age 9, of Butte, Mont., for her question:
WHO INVENTED THE SOFT DRINK?
The soft drink has become as typically American as the hot dog and the hamburger. Sometimes it is called a soda, because of its bubbling nature, and sometimes it is called pop, because of the noise it makes when the cap is removed from the bottle. It is called "soft" to distinguish it from "hard" or alcoholic beverages.
You'll have to go all the way back to 1772 for your first taste of a soft drink. In England, a man named Joseph Priestley invented the first soda water when he was trying to imitate the natural bubbling water of some mineral springs.
The first soda water was made by combining mineral water with a soda compound that contained the chemical sodium.
In 1806, a chemistry professor at Yale College in Connecticut named Benjamin Silliman made and bottled the first artificial soda water in the United States. Later drug stores and soda fountains prepared and dispensed most soda water.
Flavored soda water, especially lemon, became popular after 1830. Ginger ale and root beer became popular a bit later.
After 1850, the soft drink industry sold bottled soda water with flavoring.
In 1900, a person consumed on the average of about 12 bottles of soft drinks each year. By the 1970s that yearly consumption figure increased to more than 250 bottles or cans per person.
Diet soft drinks with reduced content became popular during the late 1960s.
A small part of the flavoring of the most popular soft drinks in the United States and Canada comes from the extract of the kola nut, or cola nut. This is a seed from a tall evergreen tree found growing wild in West Africa. Kola trees are also cultivated in the West Indies, in tropical areas of South America and in Asia.
Almost all soft drinks are made of soda w$ter, flavoring and sugar. In addition to the kola flavor, other favorites include lemon, orange, lime, raspberry and strawberry.
Soda water, the most important ingredient of soft drinks, actually contains no soda. Water charged with carbon dioxide gas causes the water to effervesce or bubble as the gas escapes.
Soda water is stored in metal tanks under pressure. It is drawn off and mixed with flavorings to make the finished drink.
Most soft drinks are sold in cans or bottles these days. But soft drinks are also dispensed in glasses or paper cups after they are prepared at soda fountains, stadiums and parks.
Back to that word "pop," the name sometimes given to soft drinks because of the noise made by the drink when the caps were removed from the bottles. Actually, caps that are used today and have been used since the mid 1890s don't make the loud noise that they used to make before the mid 1890s. But the name "pop" still means "soft drink" to many people.