Yeah, Mythbusters busted just about everything on that list. Most of that's also been debunked on snopes.com ( specifically at http://www.snopes.com/cokelore/cokelore.asp) for years. People have been saying things like this for longer than I've been around, and I was hearing them forty-some years ago. It's hard to believe that these old chestnuts keep sprouting new shoots.

The lower the pH, the stronger the acid. Our stomach acid has a pH of 1.5 to 2.0; lemon juice is 2.4 and cola (not just Coke) is 2.5. What's significant is not just the pH level, but the total concentration, which in the case of Coke is between 0.2 and 0.3 percent. Furthermore, phosphoric acid is one of a host of su...

Yeah, Mythbusters busted just about everything on that list. Most of that's also been debunked on snopes.com ( specifically at http://www.snopes.com/cokelore/cokelore.asp) for years. People have been saying things like this for longer than I've been around, and I was hearing them forty-some years ago. It's hard to believe that these old chestnuts keep sprouting new shoots.

The lower the pH, the stronger the acid. Our stomach acid has a pH of 1.5 to 2.0; lemon juice is 2.4 and cola (not just Coke) is 2.5. What's significant is not just the pH level, but the total concentration, which in the case of Coke is between 0.2 and 0.3 percent. Furthermore, phosphoric acid is one of a host of substances used in food that also have other, industrial, applications. Just because my stomach is filled with hydrochloric acid doesn't mean that I'd grab a bottle of it off a lab shelf and take a swig.

Acid rain is any precipitation with a pH of 5 or less, which means that coffee, beer, orange juice and vinegar all would qualify as acid rain if you dump them in your garden. Even water can have a pH of less than 7 - which is neutral - at temperatures above 20 Celsius.