Watch This Device Turn Coca Cola Back Into Water

Media Platforms Design Team(All Photos by Helmut Smits)In some of the world’s impoverished nations, Coca-Cola is widely available but potable water is hard to find. Which gave Helmut Smits has an idea: He has built a device that can extract drinkable water from a bottle of Coke. The Real Thing was recently demonstrated at the Sense Nonsense at the Van Abbemuseum in the Netherlands. Smits made what is essentially a beautiful still. It boils the Coke, evaporating the water from the rest of the sugary beverage before it condenses into another container. With a few added minerals, it’s safe to drink. Smits has no plans for mass production, instead seeing The Real Thing as a conceptual project about waste. After all, he says, it can take nine liters of water to make liter of Coke. Media Platforms Design TeamMedia Platforms Design TeamMedia Platforms Design TeamMedia Platforms Design TeamMedia Platforms Design Teamvia DezeenJohn WenzWriterJohn Wenz is a Popular Mechanics writer and space obsessive based in Philadelphia. He tweets @johnwenz.