“Coke” refers to three very different things depending on context: a popular soft drink, an industrial fuel critical to steel production, and a controlled substance with a narrow medical use. Each has its own set of applications, and understanding which “coke” someone means changes the answer completely.
Coca-Cola as a Beverage
The most familiar use of “coke” is as a shorthand for Coca-Cola, the carbonated soft drink consumed worldwide. A standard 12-ounce can contains about 40.5 grams of sugar and 145 calories. It’s consumed primarily as a refreshment, but its origins were medicinal. John Pemberton, an Atlanta pharmacist, created the original formula in 1885. He marketed it as a cure for headaches, exhaustion, nerve trouble, digestive problems, and even morphine addiction. The original recipe included an extract of the coca leaf (which contained cocaine) and the kola nut (which provided caffeine). At the time, cocaine was legal and widely considered safe in small amounts. The cocaine was eventually removed from the formula, and what remained became one of the most recognizable consumer products on the planet.
Household and DIY Uses for Cola
Beyond drinking, people use Coca-Cola and similar colas for a surprising range of household tasks. The most well-known is rust removal. Cola contains phosphoric acid, which reacts with iron oxide (rust) to form iron phosphate, effectively loosening rust from metal surfaces. Soaking a rusty bolt or tool in cola overnight can make the corrosion much easier to scrub away. It won’t match a dedicated rust remover, but it works in a pinch.
Gardeners sometimes add a can of full-sugar cola to their compost pile. The roughly 39 grams of sugar in a single can attracts beneficial microorganisms that speed up decomposition of food scraps and plant material. About one can per week is enough to give a compost heap a noticeable boost without overwhelming it.
Metallurgical Coke in Steel Production
In industry, “coke” refers to a carbon-dense fuel made by heating certain types of coal (called metallurgical or coking coal) until their volatile components burn off. What’s left is a hard, porous material that burns extremely hot and serves a specific chemical purpose inside blast furnaces.
Steel production depends on coke. Inside a blast furnace, coke does two jobs at once: it generates the intense heat needed to melt iron ore, and it provides the carbon that strips oxygen away from the ore. That chemical reaction converts raw iron ore into pig iron, which is then refined into steel. Without coke or a substitute carbon source, modern large-scale steelmaking wouldn’t be possible. Anthracite coal is particularly valued for this role because of its high carbon content and low impurities. The U.S. Department of Energy describes coke’s role in removing oxygen from iron ore as a reaction that only proceeds at very high temperatures, making it irreplaceable in the traditional blast furnace method.
Global steel production consumes hundreds of millions of tons of metallurgical coke each year. Some newer methods inject pulverized coal directly into the furnace to reduce the amount of coke needed, but coke remains the backbone of the process.
Cocaine’s Legal Medical Use
Cocaine is classified as a Schedule II controlled substance in the United States, meaning it has a high potential for abuse but, unlike Schedule I drugs, retains a recognized medical application. That application is narrow: cocaine hydrochloride is available as a 4% topical solution used exclusively on mucous membranes during certain procedures.
Its only FDA-approved indication is providing local anesthesia during nasal mucosal surgery in adults. Cocaine is unique among local anesthetics because it simultaneously numbs tissue and constricts blood vessels, reducing bleeding in an area that bleeds easily. This dual action makes it the most commonly used agent by ear, nose, and throat (ENT) physicians when preparing patients for diagnostic and therapeutic nasal procedures. Doctors also use it off-label to temporarily control severe nosebleeds before cauterization or nasal packing.
There are no approved uses in children. Outside of these specific surgical contexts, cocaine has no accepted medical role. Its presence on the Schedule II list means it can only be administered by licensed practitioners under tightly controlled conditions, and it is never prescribed for home use.