The Effects of Pepsi on an Immersed Magic Marker

When your marker collection is damaged by immersion in Pepsi, take steps to make the markers as good as new.

Nothing is worse than spilling a soda, or any drink for that matter, on your work station. If the carnage misses your computer, phone and important work papers, chances are it will hit some of your less fortunate office supplies. When you have a magic marker lying around, a can of soda can ruin it. But you can take steps to fix a broken magic marker when it has been drenched in soda.

Wash the Soda Off

Wet the tip of your marker. Try to get all of the soda out of the tip before it dries and makes the marker unusable. The best way is to run hot water over the marker in a sink. Be careful, because the ink runoff may stain the sink. You can also swish the tip of the marker in a cup full of hot water.

Dry and Squeeze the Marker Tip

Dry and squeeze the tip of the marker. Using an old towel that will be ruined in the process, squeeze the tip of the marker and pull it away from the body of the marker. Don't pull so hard that you break the tip off; you're just trying to get the soda out of the marker. The marker will quickly dry out. Repeat the wash and rinse cycle. It will take three or four repetitions to get all of the soda out of the marker.

Testing

Shake the marker vigorously to get ink back into the tip. Test the marker by making wide circles on scrap paper. If it doesn't work immediately, keep trying. It may take some time for the ink to come back into the tip. After the wide circles, try writing something.

Payback

Your marker can get payback on that can of soda. If you take the closed tip and press it along the seam of the easy-open cap a few dozen times, the soda will open. This is a useful trick if you accidentally break the tab off the top of a soda can.

References

• YouTube; Opening a Pepsi Can With a Marker; February 2011