SPEAKER_00 0:31

Welcome to History's Not Boring by Kidopoly.com. I'm Mira. And I'm Finn. Before we dive in, we have some huge shout-outs today. First, a massive hello to Grace and Billy, who love the show. Hi Grace. Hi Billy. Thanks for listening. Next, a big hello to Jonah in Milton, Georgia, who listens to History's Not Boring and Science Is Not Boring every single morning. This one is for you, Jonah. Good morning, Jonah. That is an awesome morning routine. And finally, a very special shout out to Isaiah. He is seven years old, lives in White House, Tennessee, and loves looking things up to learn. Isaiah actually wrote in to ask us, who invented soda?

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Great question, Isaiah. I love fizzy drinks, but I have absolutely no idea who actually made the first one.

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Well, Isaiah, this entire episode is for you. Because today we are talking about exactly that. The bubbly, fizzy, burp-inducing history of soda.

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Wait, did someone just accidentally drop something in water and it went fizz?

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Close? Get this for a hook. Did you know that the inventor of the first bottle cap, which kept soda fizzy, created a design with exactly 24 little metal teeth?

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Whoa, 24 metal teeth? That sounds like a tiny metal shark biting down on the glass.

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It basically is. And we still use a version of it today on billions of bottles. So buckle up, because we're about to travel back to the 1700s, visit strange pharmacies, and uncover how a fizzy science experiment became one of the most popular drinks in the whole wide world.

SPEAKER_01 2:23

Okay, so if we are going back to the 1700s, does that mean George Washington was drinking soda?

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Not exactly. Before we meet our inventor, we need to understand what makes soda soda.

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It's the fizz, right? The bubbles that tickle your nose and make you burp.

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Exactly. Those bubbles are actually a gas called carbon dioxide. Long ago, people found natural springs bubbling with this gas from deep underground. Oh, so the earth was just naturally burping up fizzy water? Yep. People loved natural sparkling mineral water. They thought it had magical healing powers and would travel hundreds of miles just to bathe in it and drink it.

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But natural springs are stuck in one place. You couldn't just pack up a bubbling spring and put it in your lunchbox.

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Exactly. People wanted to know how to make normal water fizzy at home. And for hundreds of years no one could figure it out.

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Until someone finally did? Who was the genius?

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His name was Joseph Priestley. He was an English scientist, a brilliant chemist, and a super curious guy. The year was 1767. Where exactly was he? In the city of Leeds, in England. And Priestley happened to live right next door to a massive brewery. A place where they made beer in gigantic wooden vats that were taller than a person.

SPEAKER_01 3:49

Wait, beer? I thought we were talking about soda.

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We are. Priestley noticed that the brewing process created a thick, invisible layer of gas that just hovered right over the giant vats.

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Like a spooky ghost cloud floating in the air.

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Haha, kind of. Priestley was fascinated by this mysterious gas. He realised it was carbon dioxide, and he wanted to see what would happen if he could trap it in regular drinking water. So what did he do? Did he scoop it up in a jar? He set up a wild experiment. He actually poured water back and forth between two bowls right above the bubbling vats of the brewery.

SPEAKER_01 4:30

He poured water back and forth over a giant vat. That sounds super dangerous.

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What if he fell in? He was very careful. As he poured the water back and forth through the invisible gas, something amazing happened. The water absorbed the gas.

SPEAKER_01 4:47

No way. Did it get fizzy?

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Yes. When Priestley tasted it, he said he felt a quote, peculiar satisfaction. He had just invented the world's first artificially carbonated water. That is so cool!

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He made the very first soda water. Did he start selling it and become a millionaire?

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Actually, no. He shared his discovery with the world for free by publishing a paper in 1772. He even gave the recipe to Captain James Cook to take on his ship to the Pacific Ocean. Oh, like a medicine for the sailors. Exactly. He thought the gas might prevent a terrible sailor's disease called scurvy. And that brings us to the next big step. By the 1800s, clever chemists and pharmacists realised they could use Priestley's fizzy water to make nasty medicines taste better.

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Because medicine back then probably tasted like muddy socks and rotten cabbage.

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You're not wrong. Pharmacies started building these huge, elaborate machines called soda fountains. They were made of expensive Italian marble and shiny brass pipes. So you would go to the doctor's shop to get a yummy soda? Yes. The pharmacists became like soda scientists. They pumped carbonated water and mixed in fruit syrups, herbs, and spices right in front of you. Did they claim it was good for your health? Oh, completely. They advertised these sweet, bubbly drinks as brain tonics, nerve karmas, and cures for headaches. Ha, that's hilarious. Have a headache, drink this fizzy strawberry juice. It was a massive hit. By the mid-1800s, hanging out at the soda fountain in your local pharmacy was the absolute coolest thing to do in town. People would sit on tall stools and sip their drinks while chatting with friends.

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But wait, when do we get to the sodas we know today? Like the really famous ones?

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I'm glad you asked, Finn, because in 1886, a pharmacist in Atlanta, Georgia was about to mix up a syrup that would change the world forever. Ooh, Atlanta! 1886! Who was the pharmacist? His name was John Pemberton. He was working in a proper indoor pharmacy laboratory, trying to create a medicinal syrup to cure headaches and give people energy. What did he put in it? Was it a secret recipe? Yes. He carefully mixed his concoction with proper scientific equipment, creating a thick, sweet, brown syrup in his lab. It included extracts from the cola nut, which has natural caffeine. Cola nut? Wait, is this cola? Yes. On May 8, 1886, Pemberton carried a jug of his new syrup down the street to Jacob's pharmacy in Atlanta.

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Did they mix his thick syrup with the fizzy water from the soda fountain?

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Exactly. They pumped in the cold carbonated water and it tasted amazing. They called it Coca-Cola and sold it for just five cents a glass. Five cents? I could buy a hundred glasses with my piggy bank. It was a huge hit. During its first year, they sold about nine drinks a day, but soon millions of people wanted it.

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Did anyone else try to invent a famous soda to compete with him? Oh, definitely.

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Just a few years later, in 1893, another pharmacist named Caleb Bradham was working in his drugstore in Newburn, North Carolina.

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Another pharmacist? These guys really loved mixing drinks.

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He invented a special digestion drink using a very specific blend of sugar, water, caramel, lemon oil, and a dash of nutmeg. He called it Brad's drink.

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Brad's drink? That doesn't sound very catchy. Hey, soda jerk, can I get a cold glass of Brad?

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People actually loved it. But in 1898, Caleb Bradham decided to change the name to something way snappier. Pepsi Cola.

SPEAKER_01 9:02

Whoa! So that's how Pepsi started.

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Yep. By 1900, both Coca-Cola and Pepsi were growing incredibly fast. But there was one huge problem holding soda back from taking over the world.

SPEAKER_01 9:16

Let me guess, they were stuck in the pharmacies because you had to drink them fresh.

SPEAKER_00 9:20

Exactly. If you put fizzy soda in a glass bottle with a regular wooden cork, the gas pressure would just push the cork right out. Pop! Oh no, you'd lose all the fizz. How did they fix it? The hero we needed was an American mechanical engineer named William Painter. In 1892, in Baltimore, Maryland, he invented something called the crown cork.

SPEAKER_01 9:45

Is that the tiny metal shark cap you mentioned earlier?

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Yes. It was a small round metal cap with a ruffled edge that crimped tightly over the thick glass rim of the bottle. Inside was a tiny disc of natural cork to seal it perfectly so the gas couldn't escape. And it had exactly 24 teeth? Originally, yes. Later they changed it to 21 teeth, which is what we still use today. Painter's invention trapped the bubbles inside perfectly, no matter how much you shook the bottle. So now soda could travel anywhere without exploding. Exactly. Soda factories popped up everywhere. Now, hundreds of heavy glass bottles of soda could be shipped on rattling trains, bumpy boats, and fast trucks all over the globe without losing a single bubble of fizz.

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That completely changed everything. How much soda do people drink today?

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It's unbelievable. Today, around the world, people drink nearly two billion servings of Coca-Cola products alone. Every single day. That's enough to fill a giant lake. It really is. Now it's time for some weird and fun facts. Did you know that the first soda fountains were so fancy, they looked like castles, with names like the Cathedral and the Non Perel.

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Fancy? Like a bubbly palace with marble columns.

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Here's another one. Caleb Bradham, the inventor of Pepsi, originally went to the University of Maryland because he wanted to be a doctor, but a family crisis made him leave medical school. If he had become a doctor like he planned, one of the most famous drinks in history might never exist.

SPEAKER_01 11:34

That is a crazy what-if moment. I'm glad he stuck to mixing sweet syrups instead.

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And get this. In the early days, soda was sometimes delivered by horse-drawn wagons. The horses knew the daily route so well, they would just stop at the customers' houses automatically, even if the driver fell asleep.

unknown 11:54

Ha!

SPEAKER_01 11:55

A self-driving soda horse. That is the best thing I've heard all day. Alright, Finn, it's time for the quiz. Are you ready? Okay, I'm ready. Hit me with your best questions.

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First question. What was the name of the English scientist who invented carbonated water in 1767? Next one. Where did Joseph Priestley conduct his famous fizzy water experiment? Question three. Who invented Coca-Cola in Atlanta in 1886? Here's number four. What was the original name of Pepsi when it was invented in 1893? Last question. What did William Painter invent in 1892 that kept the fizz inside soda bottles? Great job! Let's see how you did. The first answer is the scientist was Joseph Priestley. For question two, he did his experiment at a brewery in Leeds, England. Number three, the answer is John Pemberton invented Coca-Cola. Question four. Pepsi was originally called Brad's drink. And the final answer is, William Painter invented the Crown Cork bottle cap.

SPEAKER_01 13:25

Wow, so much crazy history in just one glass of bubbly water. Next time I open a soda, I'm going to look at the bottle cap and think of William Painter.

SPEAKER_00 13:37

Me too. And I'll remember Joseph Priestley pouring water back and forth over a brewing vat. I hope you enjoyed the episode, Isaiah.

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If you guys loved learning about the invention of soda as much as we did, we'd love it if you popped over and left us a five-star review.

SPEAKER_00 13:53

Yes, it's super easy. Just scroll down on your podcast app and tap the five stars. It helps other kids discover the show.

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Oh, and don't forget to check out our site, kidopoly.com. We've got tons of fun learning games and activities there.

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And if you want your name on the show, or just want to say hi like Jonah, Grace, Billy, and Isaiah did, send us an email at hello at kidopoly.com. Thanks for listening, everyone. See you next time on History's Not Boring. Bye.