Coca-Cola

R

rainermh12

Joined
Jun 20, 2010
Messages
328
I heard an excerpt on the radio today about a woman who cleaned up her leaky car battery by pouring Coke on it to get all the rusty crap off (don't exactly know what its called). This led to a discussion about how some soda beverages can help clean/prevent rust on certain surfaces. My question is, would it be possible to use Coca-Cola to clean rust off of my knife?
 
Apples and oranges.

The stuff that needs to be cleaned off battery terminals is lead oxide. Rust is iron oxide. The chemical reactions are different.

Coke is a mild acid. It's more likely to encourage rust than to remove it.
 
Leftoverdj said:
Coke is a mild acid. It's more likely to encourage rust than to remove it.
Click to expand...

That is not true. When I was a kid, we used to clean rusty bicycle chains by soaking them in Coca Cola in a bucket. Worked like a charm.
 
Coke contains phosphoric acid, the active ingredient of Naval Jelly. It will remove light rust and replace it with a gray iron phosphate patina. Rinse well, don't want a sticky knife. The diet product would be less sticky, and I am guessing that the other ingredients besides the sugar are all there.
 
i have used coke & pepsi to remove build up on terminals but there are tons of better products for knives.
dennis
 
^was thinking about that. I just gotta pick up the Coke first...I guess I'll update this thread once the results are in :)
 
Mythbusters did a long series about the various myths regarding the properties of Coke.

i can't recall if cleaning knives or battery terminals was amongst the myths they busted.
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MythBusters_(2003_season)#101_Uses_For_Cola

According to this, cola will:

...remove bloodstains.
...clean chrome.
...clean a penny.

It might be able to:

...clean battery terminals.

It will not:

...clean rust.
...act as a toilet cleaner.
...dissolve a tooth overnight.
...dissolve a steak.
...remove greasy stains in laundry.
...degrease engines.
...kill sperm.

I am not able to comment on any of these results, as i've not seen the episode in question, nor do i know if the methods used, and the results thereof are of any scientific significance.
 
ok...picked up a bottle of Coca-Cola classic today...here's how my little experiment's gonna go:

Step 1: Obtain rusty kitchen knife and Coke
Step 2: Pour Coke onto dishcloth.
Step 3: Rub rusty knife thouroughly with dishcloth.
Step 4: Rinse knife.

Questions/comments? Speak now or forever hold your peace, this thing's goin down tomorrow. :D
 
sorry fellas, my process did not yield any results. What I think went wrong is that I used a dishcloth to get the rust off as opposed to just dumping the knife in a bucket of Coke and leaving it there for an hour. However, I have neither the time nor the money to do that. So, depending on how you look at it, this case is still open for more input.
Props to the person who can actually prove yay or nay on this issue.
-Rainer
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top