Carbonated water is still water that has gone through a process called carbonation in which carbon dioxide is dissolved into the water. The carbon dioxide creates the seltzer water. It is also the basic process from which all types of soda are made.
Sparkling water was first invented by an English man called Joseph Priestly, who found that gas produced by vats in a brewery (carbon dioxide) added to water, made a pleasant drink. In a subsequent paper titled Impregnating Water with Fixed Air he explained how he dripped oil of vitriol (sulphuric acid) onto chalk to produce carbon dioxide, and encouraged the gas to dissolve into a bowl of water.
In Sweden a man by the name of Torben Bergman made a similar discovery in 1771 and developed a way of making carbonated water from chalk and sulphuric acid.
Modern day methods for the creation of carbonated water have changed somewhat from 1771. Now carbonated water is created through the passing of pressurized co2 through water. The pressure allows more carbon dioxide to dissolve than would be possible under normal atmospheric pressure.
Opening a bottle of carbonated water releases the pressure inside, allowing the carbon dioxide gas to be released from the water, creating the bubbles.
Making homemade sparkling water is easily done using a seltzer bottle and pressurised carbon dioxide canisters. There are numerous companies who make syrups that can be added to the sparkling water to give it extra taste. For those on a diet there are also calorie free flavours available that have no added sweeteners or fruit concentrate. A large assortment calorie free flavours to flavour sparkling water for a great taste is sold at https://allfreightfree.com
People used to believe that a large intake of carbonated or sparkling water had a negative effect on the amount of calcium in the body. It was also associated with dental erosion It has since been proven that sparkling water has no effect on your calcium levels and that carbonated water itself has nothing to do with dental erosion but large soda intake does contribute to significantly to the erosion of teeth.
The market for sparkling water has grown vastly and now every major bottled water supplier has a sparkling variant on sale as well.
Different suppliers add different ingredients to create the slightly salty taste associated with the homemade variant. There are also places where the process of carbonation occurs naturally as in Mihalkovo in the Bulgarian Rhodopes.
Carbonated water is a very popular drink choice and when coupled with flavourings, it adds a little bit more to water to make it an enjoyable and healthy alternative to all the sugar rich soda available on the market.