Soda water

Artificially carbonated water was invented by chemist Joseph Priestley (1733-1804), who published his findings in a 1772 paper titled “Directions for Impregnating Water with Fixed Air”. He did not exploit the commercial potential of soda water, but others such as J. J. Schweppe, who developed the process to manufacture carbonated mineral water, made fortunes from it. Priestley is perhaps more famous for identifying the gas oxygen.

Priestley’s instructions for making soda water are clear and easy to follow:
“If water be only in contact with fixed air, it will begin to imbibe it, but the mixture is greatly accelerated by agitation, which is continually bringing fresh particles of air and water into contact. All that is necessary, therefore, to make this process expeditious and effectual, is first to procure a sufficient quantity of this fixed air, and then to contrive a method by which the air and water may be strongly agitated in the same vessel, without any danger of admitting the common air to them; and this is easily done by first filling any vessel with water, and introducing the fixed air to it, while it stands inverted in another vessel of water.”

Though Priestly had discovered the process earlier, in 1772, when he actually published his paper, Jupiter was in Aquarius (fixed air) and Saturn was in Pisces (water) and they are in mutual reception! In April of that year Mars (agitator) was conjunct Saturn and opposed to Neptune (ruler of gas).

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