Run! RUN!
As a follow-up to the post about Skittlebrau (Skittles in beer), here is another put-candy-in-beverage-and-see-what-happens post….
Evidently, if you add Mentos to soda pop, the soda erupts like a geyser. I mean ERUPTS! The videos below show people doing it and the soda shoots out 10-15 feet from a 2-liter bottle of soda. I bet the first time someone accidentally figured this out there was a HUGE mess. This looks cool enough to try it myself (outside of course). I hate to waste Mentos, but this is in the name of science!
Here is an explanation from The Museum of Hoaxes:
Mentos contains a chemical known as ARABIC GUM (this is the ingredient that makes the mint “chewy”). This ingredient causes the surface tension of the water molecules to break even more easily, releasing more carbon dioxide gas at an astounding rate! …..The gas causes pressure to rapidly build inside the bottle which thrusts the soda upwards in a wonderful fountain-like BLAST!
[Read more]
Who knew Mentos could be such fun? Not only are they the Freshmaker, they are the Messmaker!
- Video of some newscasters trying it
- Video of a teen trying it with a 2-liter (sound is LOUD – turn down your volume first)
- Video of a teen trying it with a can of soda (not as impressive)
- Choreographed Mentos and soda explosions
- Full Explanation from Museum of Hoaxes
- Mentos website
candy mint mints mentos soda sodapop science experiment fun funny food explosions coke fountain diet coke
We just tried this at my office with pretty mixed results. Are there conditions that make this work really well? Like a 10 foot geyser? We used a (cold) 2 Litre bottle of diet coke and some mixed fruit mentos. Went up about 3 feet. meh.
RESPONSE: I haven’t tried it myself, but now that you say this, maybe I will. All the videos I have seen show it erupting really high. Seems like warm soda would work better to me, but I don’t know. Thanks for the comment!
–Brian
Why does this reaction not happen when you eat both the mentos and drink the soda. What keeps your body from exploding?
try warmer soda that hasn’t been opened.
packer fan, have you actually tried eating the two? sounds dangerous. and plus much of the co2 in the soda bubbles out during drinking; that’s where the fizzing sensation comes from.
Use coke and lifesavors. Screw a hole in the lid of a coke bottle, stick a straw through the hole. On the bottom side of the lid, string life savers on straw and put gum at the end so that the life savers won’t fall off. Screw on lid, hold bottle down as you pull the straw, causing all the life savers to fall through at once. It works really well, especially when all the coke is pressurized and has to go through that small hole you made in the lid, causing it to go higher…..It’s beauiful :D
Does it matter which flavour mentos you use, like do different flavours produce better effects?
it works well if u just put sugar in instead of mentoses
What would happen if you put mentos and soda into a water ballon and poked a hole in it? Would the water ballon explode?
RESPONSE: Good question! I might have to buy some Mentos and try that!
–Brian
I was watching this thing on TV where they were having a bunch of bottles and basically making a show out of this. I mean I think that everyone should try it. Plus…poprocks work good with soda!
Have you ever put vanilla ice cream in Root Beer? Same thing. It’s better to put the ice cream in first, then dump RB on top. Otherwise it foams all over.
Letterman had some guys do a choreographed mentos-and-diet-Coke thing last night (6/29). It was like watching wet fireworks. Very funny.
hah, me and me friends tried it n it waz soo funny!!! me friend got wet wit coke n the rest of uz wer like, whoa
RESPONSE: Well spoken! :)
–Brian
The MythBusters just did a show on why Mentos and cola do what they do, and they discovered that thousands of tiny pits on the surface of the Mentos cause the sudden release of carbon dioxide, not necessarily the gum arabic. The CO sort of condenses in these pits and then has nowhere else to go but out the top of the bottle. They also found you can get a greater result by using rock salt.
RESPONSE: Thanks for spoling it for me! I haven’t watched it yet! :)
Here’s our post about the Mythbusters.
:)
–Brian
Actually to those who question the mentos theory…
1st off – DKM: Mint Mentos work better than Fruit ones. Watch Mythbusters sometime and it’ll rerun i suppose.
2ndly – Daftlad – Mint works the best (see above)
3rdly- tim – sugar does NOT work as well as Mint Mentos. try it sometime.
Oh and to the website: You should try this, i haven’t done it but heard it works:
get a medium sized PVC pipe and put as much diet coke as possible in it. Then get a whole package of mentos and put them in all at once. It should be huge!!
hey i ‘m making a movie called dumbass.. in one of the things i’m going to be drinking a 2L thing of coke and then eating 2 mentos..
is this going to kill me?
RESPONSE: The Mythbusters ate mentos and drank Diet Coke and are still alive and kicking. Your mileage may vary.
–Brian
So, someone should fill a bath with Diet Coke (stock up on the 2 liters), JUMP IN, and then have someone throw in about 70 mentos! OOOH, I can only imagine that mess. At least Diet Coke isn’t sticky.
When I tried this experiment I was in school and we were surprised by the reaction the explosion was so high .
im doing this as my science fair project for my physics class…is there anything i should know??!? suggestions?!?!? im suppose to be measuring the height and how far it goes when it shoots up…is there any more i can do to make my project better?!?!
I’ve actually done a trick that I find much cooler, with Diet Coke and Mentos.
You drop the whole tube of Mentos, in the foil but not the paper, into a 2 Litre bottle of lukewarm Diet Coke. You screw the lid on tight, shake hard for about 5 seconds, the loosen the cap so it’s barely on, and throw down the bottle, cap-side down.
The entire bottle shoots about 20 feet in the air. I didn’t videotape it, but a video of the same trick can be seen on youtube at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkkOUPYNs7I
This is the most insanely awesome trick ever.
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the male booty was awsome dudes!! cutey wish it was the blue shirt guy though
if u put smarties in dr.pepper they will burst the can open
RESPONSE: US or European Smarties? And how do you put candy inside a can?
–Brian
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u don’t have any mentos explosion sites.
this sounds fun so I’m going to try it for the science fair that I’m going to be in.
LOVE ALWAYS BRIDGETTE
this is really cool +))))))
My friend tried it before with two mentos and it exploded try 20..
I LOVE CANDY
i have tried itr many of times and it exploded only about three times
is the explosion worth the cost of THE Coke and Mentos?
This has nothing to do with Arabic Gum. Pepsi has Arabic Gum too, if you look at the ingredients.
We had tried it with 1 mentos & small amount of coco cola in a beaker. we didn’t get any result.can we get reasons. how to improve the results?
i rerally need ingrediants of mentos!!!!!!!!
I LOVE THIS POP EXPLOTION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
NEVER let the soda sit opened, it lets the bubbles/fizz die and u don’t get as good a geyser
i’m doing that for my science experiment =-]
Ok, here’s what you do, take a 2 liter bottle of coke, add 2 packs (if possible) with only foil on them, put cap on tight shake for 5 seconds, and run!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!(otherwise u’ll be covered in plastic and coke and mentos)
P.S. When you do this, don’t complain to me if u get hit by a mentos (it leaves welts-so i’ve heard).
I’m doing this for my science fair project… i’m trying lots of things, so hopefully it works for me! Got any sugestions?
1st thing, my email is not real
To thomas, who posted vry long ago, mythbusters ppl simply put the concoction into their mouth, they nvr swallow it. If u do so, the consequences might be dire.
get a pvc pipe (30 to 40 feet long) and put 5-10 packs of mentos into a gallon of diet coke then shake it up and itll go 50 to 60 feet in the air.
yummy but ow
?
ow it hurts
I’m doing a science fair project some what on this topic, and I was wondering if anyone knows if the reaction has anything to do with acidity level of soda.
i tried it for a scence project and it got at least 12 feet high tks.
ya i did it for a science fair project too but but i did it on temperature of mentos. Turns out frozen worked the best because it enhanced gum arabic density. anyways, if you need reasearch help on it, here is my review of literature i got from like 10 sites. yes, yes, i know.. its long.. but it has lots of valuable information if you read it
Diet Coke
Diet Coke consists of carbonated water, caramel coloring, aspartame (a sweetener), phosphoric acid, potassium benzoate, natural flavors, citric acid, and caffeine. Carbon dioxide is pumped into bottles in a factory to provide bubbles and fizz. The gas in the Diet Coke is trapped by the water and stays suspended in the bottle so gas bubbles can not form easily. One way to release gas bubbles from carbon dioxide is to shake the bottle and open it, causing the “water mesh†to release carbon dioxide gas from the liquid in the bottle.
Mint Mentos
Mentos are made up of sugar, glucose syrup, hydrogenated coconut oil, gelatin, dextrin, natural flavoring, corn starch, and gum Arabic. The surface of a Mento is filled with nucleation sites, which are tiny cracks and pits which are ideal places for bubbles to form.
Physical Reactions
Adding Mentos to Diet Coke results in a physical reaction. There are two reasons why the Diet Coke blasts out. Water molecules attract and link together, forming a tight mesh around each bubble in the Diet Coke. For bubbles to form more easily or for an existing bubble to expand, the water molecules must push away from each other, breaking the surface tension, which prevents most bubbles and carbon dioxide from escaping. The Mentos resolve this problem. The ingredients from the Mentos, gelatin and gum Arabic (ingredients that make the Mentos chewy) break the surface tension. This disrupts the water mesh and allows bubbles to form and expand a lot easier.
The second reason Mentos and Diet Coke create a reaction is the nucleation sites on a Mento. Mint Mentos produce better results. This is because Mint Mentos have a matte finish, which means that the surface of Mint Mentos are rough, having more nucleation sites. The fruit flavored Mentos have a gloss finish, meaning that the surface of the fruit Mento is smooth and has less nucleation sites. Nucleation causes a phase transition in a small area, like the bottle of Diet Coke, creating bubbles from the liquid. When the Mentos are added, the suspended Mentos provide more nucleation sites. This is called heterogeneous nucleation. Thousands of bubbles form on the surface of the Mentos. Since the Mentos sink, the reaction occurs all the way to the bottom of the bottle. The escaping bubbles intensify into foam and the pressure inside the bottle rises significantly. Then, the bubbles explode upwards into a geyser. Since the mesh becomes disrupted by the bubbles, it causes even more bubbles to form from the nucleation, resulting from a massive explosion from the Diet Coke.
will you tell us what to do ao we can finsh our project?
we need a reply by monday.
P.S plzzz were doing the same veribls
Alex what websight did you go to?
will you plz reply.
i am working on mintos and soda.
excuse me but,do u need 2 have DIET coke? or can the regular work 2?
i tried it for a science fair project and i need research for it so thank you for all the info.
What do you think would happen if i put mentos into a balloon with soda in it? What would happen if i put mints into a container filled with soda?
i have to try the one where you put 2 packs in and it explodes.
I have done this mint mentos explosion for my science experiment and i was in for a treat.i did not think it was going to work. it did and it went 15-16 feet hight and my brother wanted to help so i said “hold the bottle” thinking he would move when i droped the mentos in, and he did’nt. the soda was no diet and that means it was stiky. it got all over him and he started crying cause it got in his eyes funny rite