After celebrating the holidays, it’s an age-old first-world problem. You’ve opened a bottle of the fizzy stuff, but how do you make it last and stay fizzy? Some say putting a spoon in the bottle does the trick, but is that the truth or just a myth that’s gone flat?

Here are five things to know:

  1. For many years, legend has it that if you pop a spoon in your bottle of fizzy stuff, it’ll stay bubbly for ages. Why? Well, the science sort of goes, the spoon in the bottle neck absorbs the warm air inside and transfers it out of the bottle, thereby creating a sort of air barrier.
  2. That sounds good enough to believe, but in 1994, a chemistry professor from Stanford and later, champagne experts in France, all did experiments that conclusively proved the spoon idea was utter nonsense. Now that caused quite a stir!
  3. So what’s the solution then? Well, the Stanford professor concluded that not only do you not need a spoon to keep a bottle fizzy but you also don’t really need a stopper either. The secret is to keep your bottle as cold as possible before and during the time you use it.
  4. The fizzy part of the liquid is carbon dioxide, and the way to keep that in the liquid rather than letting it bubble out is to keep it cool because it’s more soluble at lower temperatures.
  5. The colder the liquid, the easier it is to keep its fizz dissolved. Ready and waiting for you to pour another glass. Cheers!

So now you know. If you keep your bottle cold from the start, it could stay fizzier for far longer. But leave it open on the table, and the fizzle in your bottle could soon go rather flat indeed.