inducing a slight burning sensation, and is not caused by the presence of bubbles. This can be shown by drinking a fizzy drink in a hyperbaric chamber at the same pressure as the beverage. This gives much the same taste, but the bubbles are completely absent. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbonation Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbonation , http://hypertextbook.com/facts/2000/SeemaMera j.shtml