--- title: Here's What Happens When You Mix 7-Up With Lithium description: When 7-Up was first invented, one of its ingredients was lithium salts. canonical: https://time.com/4231522/7up-lithium-chemical-reaction/ author: Megan McCluskey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-02-20T19:14:23.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:30:20.029Z og:title: Here's the Gross Thing That Happens When You Mix 7-Up With Lithium og:description: Anyone for an ice cold glass of black sludge? og:url: https://time.com/4231522/7up-lithium-chemical-reaction/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Here's the Gross Thing That Happens When You Mix 7-Up With Lithium twitter:description: Anyone for an ice cold glass of black sludge? twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Here's the Gross Thing That Happens When You Mix 7-Up With Lithium  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Feb 20, 2016 7:14 PM UTC  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Feb 20, 2016 7:14 PM UTC When 7-Up was first invented, [one of its ingredients](http://time.com/4200236/sugar-soda-sweeteners/) was lithium salts. In fact, the [fizzy drink](http://time.com/3996117/soda-obesity-aging/) was originally known as “Bib-Label Lithiated Lemon-Lime Soda,” according to the [Huffington Post](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/17/7up-history%5Fn%5F5836322.html). Of course, the mind-altering substance was removed from the drink when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration outlawed the use of the chemical in [soda](http://time.com/money/4196272/coke-mini-can-value/) in 1948. **Read More:** [These Amazing Chemical Reactions Will Show You the True Beauty of Science](http://time.com/3481898/amazing-chemical-reactions-true-beauty-of-science/) However, the team over at [Periodic Videos](http://www.periodicvideos.com/) recently decided to test what would happen if they tried to add lithium back into 7-Up. In the clip, Sir Martyn Poliakoff, a chemistry professor at the University of Nottingham, explains what happened when his colleagues placed a piece of lithium inside a beaker containing the beverage. The mixture quickly began to heat up, boil, and change color, finally resulting in a black alkaline goo. Watch the full video below. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4231522/7up-lithium-chemical-reaction/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4231522/7up-lithium-chemical-reaction/"},"headline":"Here's the Gross Thing That Happens When You Mix 7-Up With Lithium","datePublished":"2016-02-20T19:14:23.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:30:20.029Z","description":"Anyone for an ice cold glass of black sludge?","url":"https://time.com/4231522/7up-lithium-chemical-reaction/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Food & Drink","Science topic","Soda","Chemistry"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan McCluskey","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4231522/7up-lithium-chemical-reaction/","name":"Here's the Gross Thing That Happens When You Mix 7-Up With Lithium"}}]}] ```