Diet Coke and Mentos eruption

A two-liter bottle of Diet Coke just after Mentos were dropped into it
Diet Coke and Mentos experiment videos went viral in the mid 2000s[1]
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 (alternately Diet Coke and Mentos geyser or Mentos eruption) is a reaction between the carbonated beverage Diet Coke and Mentos mints that causes the beverage to spray out of its container.[2][3] The gas released by the candies pushes all of the liquid up and out of the bottle for a huge explosion.[4] Lee Marek and "Marek's Kid Scientists" were the first to demonstrate the experiment on television in 1999.[5] Steve Spangler's televised demonstration of the eruption in 2005 went viral on YouTube,[6][7][8][9] launching a chain of several other Diet Coke and Mentos experiment viral videos.[10]

History

In the 1980s, Wint-O-Green Life Savers were used to create cola geysers.[4] The rolls of candies were threaded onto a pipe cleaner and dropped into the soft drink to create a geyser.[4] At the end of the 1990s the manufacturer of Wintergreen Lifesavers increased the size of the mints and they no longer fit in the mouth of soda bottles.[4] Science teachers found that Mint Mentos candies had the same effect when dropped into a bottle of any carbonated soft drink.[4]

Lee Marek and "Marek's Kid Scientists" performed the Diet Coke and Mentos experiment on the Late Show with David Letterman in 1999.[3][5][11] In March 2002, Steve Spangler, a science educator, did the demonstration on KUSA-TV, an NBC affiliate, in Denver, Colorado.[12] The Mentos Geyser Experiment became an internet sensation in September 2005.[7] The experiment became a subject of the television show Mythbusters in 2006.[11][13] Spangler signed a licensing agreement with Perfetti Van Melle, the maker of Mentos, after inventing an apparatus aimed to make it easier to drop the Mentos into the bottle and produce a large soda geyser.[14] The Amazing Toys, Spangler's toy company, released the Geyser Tube toys in February 2007.[15] In October 2010, a Guinness World Record of 2,865 simultaneous geysers was set at an event organized by Perfetti Van Melle at the SM Mall of Asia Complex, in Manila, Philippines.[16] This record was afterwards beaten in November 2014 by another event organized by Perfetti Van Melle and Chupa Chups in Leon, Guanajuato, Mexico where 4,334 Mentos and Soda fountains were set off simultaneously.[17]

Cause

The structure of Mentos is a significant cause of the eruption because of its nucleation sites.[4][16][18] The surface of the mint Mentos is covered with many small holes that increase the surface area available for the reaction (and thus the quantity of reagents exposed to each other at any given time), thereby allowing carbon dioxide bubbles to form with the rapidity and quantity necessary for the "jet"—or "geyser"—or eruption-like nature of the effusion.[4][13][18] This hypothesis gained further support when rock salt was used as a "jump start" to the reaction. Tonya Coffey, a physicist at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, confirmed that the rough surface of the Mentos candy helps speed the reaction. Coffey also found that the aspartame in diet drinks lowers the surface tension and causes a bigger reaction, but that caffeine does not accelerate the reaction. The geyser reaction will still work even using sugared drinks, but diet is commonly used both for the sake of a larger geyser as well as to avoid having to clean up a sugary soda mess.[19][20]

Once the Mentos are added to the beverage, bubbles form around the surface of the mints and rise to the surface of the liquid.[4] In addition, the density of Mentos is greater than the density of the drink, which results in the candy sinking.[4][13][16] These two factors combined create the blast.[4][13][16]

The potassium benzoate, aspartame, and carbon dioxide gas contained in Diet Coke, in combination with the gelatin and gum arabic ingredients of the Mentos contribute to the formation of the foam.[11][13][16]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Diet Coke and Mentos, Near Death". 239Media. 2 August 2006. Retrieved 8 November 2014.
  2. ↑ Hazel Muir (2008-06-15). "Science of Mentos-Diet Coke Explosions Explained". Retrieved 2014-09-30.
  3. 1 2 Michelle Bova (2007-02-19). "How Things Work: Mentos in Diet Coke". Retrieved 2014-09-30.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Spangler, Steve (2010). Naked Eggs and Flying Potatoes. Greenleaf Book Group Press.
  5. 1 2 Suzanne Baker (2014-05-23). "Naperville students integral to classic TV bits, but will the fun continue?". Retrieved 2014-09-30.
  6. ↑ Clayton Neuman (20 April 2007). "The TIME 100 — Are They Worthy?". TIME. Retrieved 22 June 2014.
  7. 1 2 "Steve Spangler". 9 News. 16 August 2011. Retrieved 22 June 2014.
  8. ↑ Steve Spangler Science (26 June 2006). "Orchestrated Chaos: A Mentos Tribute to Eepybird.com". Retrieved 24 July 2014.
  9. ↑ SpanglerScienceTV (6 June 2012). "Original Mentos Diet Coke Geyser". YouTube. Retrieved 24 July 2014.
  10. ↑ "Diet Coke and Mentos, Near Death". 239Media. 2 August 2006. Retrieved 8 November 2014.
  11. 1 2 3 Tonya Shea Coffey. "Diet Coke and Mentos: What is really behind this physical reaction?" (PDF). Retrieved 2014-09-30.
  12. ↑ "The Original Mentos Geyser Video". Retrieved 2014-09-30.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 "Mythbusters: Diet Coke and Mentos MiniMyth". Discovery Channel.
  14. ↑ Al Lewis (2006-11-07). "Mentos-soda mix a mint for scientist". Retrieved 2014-09-30.
  15. ↑ Greg Sandoval (2007-02-13). "Toying with the Diet Coke and Mentos experiment". Retrieved 2014-09-30.
  16. 1 2 3 4 5 Daven Hiskey. "Why Do Mentos and Diet Coke React?". Retrieved 2014-09-30.
  17. ↑ "Most Mentos and soda fountains". Guinness World Records. Retrieved 2015-02-05.
  18. 1 2 "Mentos and Soda". MythBusters. Season 4. Episode 14. August 9, 2006. Discovery Channel.
  19. ↑ Muir, Hazel (June 12, 2008). "Science of Mentos-Diet Coke explosions explained". New Scientist. Retrieved 2009-09-20.
  20. ↑ Coffey, Tonya Shea (June 2008). "Diet Coke and Mentos: What is really behind this physical reaction?". American Journal of Physics 76 (6): 551–557. doi:10.1119/1.2888546.

Further reading

External links

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