Saturday afternoon I was drinking a bottle of water (and eating a brownie…) when I noticed an expiration date on the bottle.
Which started me thinking.
What happens to water when it expires?
Does it no longer taste like water? Do the chemical bonds weaken and burst, leaving a bottle filled with separated hydrogen and oxygen gas? (For the record, Tesla kind of hopes for this, largely due to the increased flammability quotient.) Do water-bottle-Oompa-loompas appear and carry away the offending beverage? (Or the consumer, for proper de-oxygenating at some Wonka-esque underground facility?)
I was half-tempted to close the bottle and leave it, just to find out.
But then I got thirsty, so I guess the world will never know.
I actually know this one! Water actually goes stale after a while, and in some cases can actually stagnate. Neither are good for drinking water. My family has been into food storage before, and water rotation is a critical element of that.
Good to know. I figured it would probably go stale, maybe taste like plastic. It was amusing to consider what might happen if it actually “went off” in a big way.
I don’t know what happens when water expires, but here’s why bottled water has an expiration date:
http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/26866