Mentos react with Diet Coke because their rough surfaces provide suitable sites for rapid growth of carbon dioxide bubbles, according to Mental Floss magazine. It is likely that these stories are exaggerated and have been spread on the Internet for entertainment purposes. Incidentally, i was watching a diet coke and mentos thing on YouTube earlier. 1995 - 2023 by Snopes Media Group Inc. Hold Bottle by top with one hand place around the neck so that the bottle is upside down. Is it some sort of chemical reaction between Mentos and Diet Coke that is producing the explosion? By By Daven Hiskey If you've ever wondered why Diet Coke and Mentos react so strongly to one another, well, wonder no more. A two-litre bottle has about 15 grams of dissolved carbon dioxide, which, under the right conditions, becomes 8 litres of carbon dioxide gas in just a few seconds. Both of these ingredients lower the surface tension of the soda, which exacerbates the bubbling reaction and makes the geyser happen much more quickly. When mint or fruit Mentos are dropped into a fresh bottle of Diet Coke, a jet of Coke whooshes out of the bottle's mouth and can reach a height of 10 metres. Gas becomes much less soluble in warmer environments; cold soda stifles the gas creation effect and will make your geyser weaker. The reaction occurs between these little pores and the carbon dioxide dissolved in the solution. "This was a good project for my students to study because there was still some mystery to it.". My next plan is to use powdered chalk and fizzy water. Surely, then, you dont want to eat Mentos while drinking Coca-Cola, lest this reaction occurs in your stomach. Glad it worked for you. But i think nucleation sites are the way to go, not an actual chemical reaction. There once was a rumor that two children had died because they ate Mentos and drank Coca-Cola at the same time. We can see how much better Diet Coke and Coke Zero react with Mentos just by looking at the experiment we showed earlier: both of these sugar-free sodas produced fountains that exceeded 2.5 metres, while the fountain produced by regular Coke barely reached 1.5 metres. Likewise, stories of children dying from a soda and Mentos compination appear to be nothing more than an update of the urban legend concerning Mikey, the childhood star of a series of Life cereal commercials who was a notoriously picky eater. Next topic: Old 3 part inflation story. In comparison, diet cokes showed reduced reaction times. But, it is true that a violent reaction occurs when you put Mentos into a bottle of Coke. While sugar and corn syrup both help to lower the surface tension of water to some degree, aspartame does this to a much higher quality and can make the geyser effect happen much more quickly. All of these tricks help to improve the speed and drama of a Mentos eruption. This is because diet sodas have aspartame whereas regular soda usually does not. The short answer is that eating Mentos by chewing them up while drinking Coca-Cola, or any other soda, will little to no effect. That year, the grist being run through the rumor mill included the sad tale of. stomach capacity, of carbon dioxide from bicarb, you need about a quarter of a mole of it, which is twenty-one grammes. Measurements showed that the surface tension in water containing the sweetener aspartame is lower than in sugary water, explaining why Diet Coke creates more dramatic fountains than sugary Coke. The Diet Coke and Mentos experiment results from an increased rate of nucleation. What Happens When You Mix Coke With Mentos? I think the cracks in the mentos will disappear during consumption. A few questions i would like answering: -how much of each should i consume? People will do anything for YouTube views, so you can watch a dimwit do this experiment here. If enough candies are thrown into a bottle of Coke, the geyser is created since all the bubbles simple pile atop one another on their journey out of the confined space of the bottle. Furthermore, dropping the Mentos into the soda bottle with force to make it descend quickly will force more carbon dioxide through its small pores and make a faster reaction were more bubbles are created in a short amount of time. The engineer explains that the yellow nose cap is full of mentos, while the body is full of pressurized diet coke. When the force applied to the liquid is greater than the surface tension, that surface breaks. You can use more than one Mentos to get a really big explosion. It worked, but even quite small quantities seem to start messing up my internal environment and i got cramps and tingling. If drops are continually added, this bubble will grow and continually burst, spilling water down the sides of the glass. The rest of the process happens thanks to the physical properties of Mentos. I'll try more next time. Diet soda does work a bit better than regular soda, but the main reason it gets used is because it doesn't leave a sticky residue on surfaces. Videos of those who have attempted such foolishness consistently show the subjects experiencing great physical distress in the aftermath of their ill-judged stunts. Try to keep as much of the co2 in the coke ie not shaking it. Now, make a Mentos-and-soda fountain! Sign up to read all wikis and quizzes in math, science, and engineering topics. To conduct this experiment, first start off by finding a location that can be easily cleaned or hosed off, such as an open area outside. A study in the US has identified the prime factors that drive the fizzy plumes from Coke bottles: the roughness of the sweet and how fast it plummets to the bottle's base. Diet Coke and Mentos - . Create your account. This is where the carbon dioxide in the pop goes to the mentos (EpyBird.com), and create a bubbly stream that had so much pressure it shoots out of the container. Example: [Collected on the Internet, 2006]. I'm addicted to Crystal Pepsi: https://youtu.be/qEjy3dS6COs \"HAVE A CRYSTAL PEPSI DAY!\" - L.A. COCA COLA VS MENTOS || Sprite vs Mentos At 0 degrees, the reaction time was 1.7 seconds and decreased to 0.6 seconds when the temperature increased to 80 degrees. One drop at a time, drop each liquid onto its own penny. The reaction is caused by a process called nucleation, whereby the carbon dioxide in the soda is attracted to dozens of tiny pores on the surface of the Mentos, causing so much pressure that the . A classic experiment in chemistry is combining a small candy called Mentos with Diet Coke. I then quickly swallowed whole 3 mint mentos, using a small ammount of water to chase them down quickly. The Coke-Mentos science experiment is certainly fun to do but its also messy, so we recommend doing it outside or in an easily-cleaned space, like a bath! And if you add a big enough surfactant, you get a geyser. Invert the test tube, holding the cover in place. Date Of Creation: 17 September 2021. When analyzing my new approach to this time . Shake bottle so that mentos and Diet Coke mix. ", 24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events. Place the soda bottle outside in and area that can get dirty. !Facebook http://www.facebook.com/furiouspeteInstagram http://www.instagram.com/furiouspete Furious Formulations: http://www.furiouscuts.comCheck out my other Channels:Vlogs http://www.youtube.com/furioustalksSupplement Reviews http://www.youtube.com/suppsreviewsThe Furious Dog http://www.youtube.com/thefuriousdogFurious Eats http://www.youtube.com/furiouspeteFurious GamePlay http://www.youtube.com/FuriousGamePlaySend cool stuff to my PO Box!Furious Pete1801 Lakeshore Rd W Unit 6PO Box 52559 Turtle CreekMississauga, ON, L5J 4S6Thanks for subscribing! Mentos are also fairly dense and sink rapidly, quickly creating bubbles that seed further bubbles as they rise. ", As it sinks, the Mentos produces more bubbles, which react with carbon dioxide in the soda, rewarding you with a Diet Coke geyser. If i'm using an acid too, for example tartaric or citric, the toxicity of bicarb, the acid and the compound resulting from the reaction are all important, as is the pH change of the internal environment. Only after the Mythbusters pumped a large amount of compressed air into the stomach did it finally burst, and it took a LOT of air. But the amazing eruption that takes place when Mentos are dropped into Diet Coke is not a chemical reaction at all! But the process is constant and grows exponentially. Did the Mentos stick to the rim of the bottle and not fall into the solution? From left to right: action of five Mentos candies (per bottle) with Perrier, classic Coke, Sprite, and Diet Coke A Diet Coke and Mentos eruption (also known as a soda geyser) is a reaction between the carbonated beverage Diet Coke and Mentos mints that causes the beverage to be expelled from its container. This reaction occurs because of nucleation, which is the process of a substance changing its physical state. This mixture was first formulated by an American pharmacist, John S. Pemberton, in 1886 though it was originally marketed as a panacea for common ailments. To liberate five litres, i.e. When taken with fruit juice, creatine is more easily absorbed by the body. This means that they sink to the bottom of the beverage. It turns out that Mentos have a very porous surface, with thousands of tiny indentations, perfect for nucleation. June 15, 2008 — -- The startling reaction between Diet Coke and Mentos sweets, made famous in thousands of YouTube videos, finally has a scientific explanation. Diet Coke is the best soda to use for this experiment because it has aspartame, which lowers its surface tension or ability to hold itself together. Gotta do it fast, though. The nucleation process is also faster, leading to higher gas pressure. Why does Mentos react to soda? Mentos Geyser Experiment. I'll try more next time. When you drop a Mentos into the soda, tiny bumps on the candy surface give the carbon dioxide molecules a nucleation site or place to stick. Speed and pressure are also important factors in the explosivity of Coke fountains. Instead it is a physical reaction. And most reports of death involve someone eating Mentos rather than swallowing them, which would probably cause little to know reaction. Thankfully, theres already a well-known escape hatch located at your mouth. What is it with this experiment with soda and Mentos that causes this explosion to shoot so far into the air? Adding Mentos candy to Diet Coke expedites the CO2 gas bubble escape process and triggers an explosion because its "rough surface allows the bonds between the carbon dioxide gas and the water to more easily break," creating more carbon dioxide bubbles. Claim: A mixture of Mentos and Coca-Cola killed two Brazilian children. What will happen if we put Mentos in Coke? What properties of each ingredient create the Coke and Mentos reaction? I vaguely remember that episode. There's a lot of carbon dioxide dissolves in the soda, which gives it its fizz. All other trademarks and copyrights are the property of their respective owners. This is a fun and exciting experiment designed for 3rd-6th graders. This doesnt always cause a geyser to erupt out of a coke bottle; for instance, a Mentos candy cut into quarters will produce less of a reaction than a full candy. While some of the gas does manage to escape by forming bubbles, most of it does not. wowee zowee. The nucleation reaction causes the rapid release of the carbon dioxide from the water, resulting in carbon dioxide gas which rapidly expands in the soda, pushing the liquid out of the bottle. Imagine a huge geyser erupting at Yellowstone National Park. The soda is saturated with carbon dioxide that is looking for a way to escape. First, the act of drinking soda releases quite a bit of the carbonation in it, limiting the possible effect. The sudden swell of carbon dioxide inside your stomach will need an escape. Your stomach is surrounded by many other internal organs that shift normally when you eat a large meal. This is because as they rise, they disrupt the solution on their way to the surface, allowing more carbon dioxide to escape from the solution. I would definitely recommend Study.com to my colleagues. Its not only the surfaces of the Mentos that react with Coca-Cola. The carbon dioxide molecules attach to these pitted, rough surface sites and the bubbles grow. Density is how much mass is in a given volume. The surface tension of the water allowed it to fill above the rim of the glass. Pressure are also fairly dense and sink rapidly, quickly creating bubbles that seed bubbles! Designed for 3rd-6th graders you can use more than one Mentos to a. 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