If you drop a can of pop, what's the first thing you do?

For a lot of us, it's automatic: pick it up and start tapping the top like we're trying to negotiate with it.

And here in Michigan, where we call it pop, not soda, this is important science.

Unfortunately, tapping the can may not actually save your shirt.

When a carbonated drink gets shaken, tiny bubbles form inside the liquid. Open that can immediately, and the sudden change in pressure can send all that trapped gas, and a whole lot of pop, shooting out the top.

So what about all that tapping?

Apparently, not much.

A 2019 study involving more than 1,000 beer cans found no meaningful difference between cans that were tapped and cans that weren't. In fact, tapping can create additional bubbles in the drink.

So your years of carefully tapping the top of your can?

You may have just been giving the pop more reasons to explode.

So What Should You Do?

The better strategy is pretty simple:

Put the can down. Keep it upright. Let it sit for a few minutes.

Then open it slowly.

That gives some of the gas time to escape before you completely release the pressure.

And if you're in Michigan, there's one more important step:

Don't waste the pop.

Because around here, we're not paying five bucks for a fancy coffee just to watch a perfectly good can of Faygo launch itself across the kitchen.

So the next time somebody drops a can of pop and starts frantically tapping the top, you can tell them:

“Stop tapping it. You're making the bubbles angry.”