Kassidy Wilkinson

I love Sonic Diet Coke but every time I buy a large drink there’s always too much ice. To find a solution to this problem, my family and I did an experiment to figure out how much soda was actually in a large drink with ice and whether or not a medium drink without ice had more soda.

History books claim that oil is the nation’s “liquid gold,” however, I disagree. The real liquid gold isn’t pumped from the ground and sold in 42-gallon oil barrels—instead, it arrives in a tall, foam cup. Hidden by a circular plastic lid, the real liquid gold doesn’t race through metal pipes in a mining facility but instead is pulled by a vacuum-like force up a straw. The real liquid gold isn’t consumed by heavy machinery but is instead consumed by the most intelligent creatures on Earth. The real liquid gold is Diet Coke.

Sometimes referred to as a “moms drink,” Diet Coke is by far the best soda out there. Dr. Pepper is too sweet, Sprite is too boring, and Pepsi is just gross, but Diet Coke? Just right. However, I’m not talking about the watered down, zero carbonation, basically just brown water a person buys from McDonalds. The Diet Coke I’m talking about comes from America’s Drive In: Sonic.

During my time as a Diet Coke fan, I have been to many places and have tasted lots of Diet Coke. However, I’ve found that no matter where I go, Sonic always remains the best. Some places come close to Sonic, like the QT gas station or Chick-fil-a, but none of them have fully reached the delicious taste and amazing carbonation that Sonic consistently provides.

Unfortunately, I often find myself happily taking sips of my Sonic drink only to reach mounds of ice after only a couple of minutes. As much as I love Sonic ice, I didn’t pay for a cup full of it, I paid for a cup full of Diet Coke. To find a solution to this problem, my family and I did an experiment to figure out how much soda a person typically gets in a large Sonic drink.

In our experiment, we compared the amount of Diet Coke in milliliters inside of a large drink with ice to a medium drink without ice. At the regular price, medium drinks at Sonic are $2.69 and a large drink is $3.09, with a difference of $0.40. In my family, when we go to Sonic, we usually buy six large Diet Cokes. We order in the app with the half-price discount and end up spending around $9.27. The same amount of medium drinks at half-price, at half-price costs $8.07. With the result of our experiment, we wanted to figure out if ordering a medium drink without ice came with more soda at a lower cost.

To start our experiment we began with figuring out exactly how much Diet Coke was in a large drink. On repeated trips to Sonic, we ordered a large drink, then removed the ice to measure the volume of the actual soda received. Carefully we poured the Diet Coke into a water strainer and wrote down the measurements. To ensure none of the ice melted before we took our measurements, we did all of this in the car, right after we received our drinks.

The experiment on the amount of soda in a large Diet Coke with ice resulted with a mean, or average, of 568 mL. The minimum amount of soda received was 505 mL, while the maximum amount of soda received was 659 mL. This means that on average every time I go to Sonic, I go home with 568 mL of Diet Coke.

Our experiment on the amount of soda in a medium drink without ice resulted in a mean of 558mL, with the minimum amount being 530 mL and the maximum amount being 575 mL. So while the data of the medium drink resulted in a lower average, the distance between the maximum and minimum amounts of Diet Coke was far less than in the larger drink with ice by 109 mL. This means that buying a larger drink with ice is far less predictable than a medium drink without ice.

Based on the averages from the two experiments, every time I buy a large drink at the regular price, I’m spending $0.40 more for an average of only 10 mL more of Diet Coke. Economically speaking, if a person buys medium drinks without ice they will be spending less for every individual millimeter of soda compared to the large drinks with ice.

Another alternative to the original problem of having too much ice in my large drink could be buying a medium without ice and adding an additional purchase of a mini cup of ice for only $0.29 more. Then I would only be spending $2.98. If I choose this option, I only miss out on 10 mL of soda but I still have ice with my drink at a reduced price. 

While I could choose to order a large drink without ice, I would have to pay the more expensive price for no ice. If I’m going to go the no ice route, I might as well get a discount. In the end, I decided to stick with buying a large Diet Coke with ice when I go to Sonic. Even though the amount of soda I could get is very unpredictable, I prefer to battle the statistics and hope I get 659 mL every single time I order a soda.