My 4-year old and our neighbor enjoyed witnessing this explosive soda and Minty Mentos experiment. Have you tried it? It doen’t require a huge set-up, and the show is pretty awesome. I have to warn you that the explosion itself goes by quickly, so you might want to have an arsenal of soda containers on hand so you can conduct multiple experiments.
Ingredients for Diet Coke and Mentos Experiment
- Diet Coke
- Minty Mentos
Take the Mentos out of the wrapper.
Almost as soon as the Mentos hit the soda, the explosion begins, so f you’d like to try dropping more than one into the Soda bottle, make a paper tube and fill it with all your Mentos.
Take it outside. open the bottle, drop in one (or multiple) Mentos, and then step back!
The explosion happened so fast that I was unable to capture it with my camera, so you’ll have to try this experiment for yourself and see how it works.
Experiment ideas
- Try this with other types of soda. I read that diet soda is recommended because it’s less sticky than regular soda, but regular soda should work too. Compare the results of regular and Diet Coke.
- The carbonation is what’s supposed to trigger the reaction: try this experiment with carbonated water. What happens?
- Compare the results of fruit-flavored and mint-flavored Mentos.
- What happens when you add other ingredients to the soda: salt, rock salt, sugar, baking soda, peanuts.
The Science Bit
According to Wikipedia, “the numerous small pores on the candy’s surface catalyze the release of carbon dioxide(CO2) gas from the soda, resulting in the rapid expulsion of copious quantities of foam”
Taking this 100 Steps Further…
Eepybird.com (Entertainment for the Curious Mind) shared that the exploding Diet Coke and Mentos Experiment was first introduced by University of Chicago chemistry professor, Lee Marek. The Eepybirds later recreated this experiment in a spectacular multi-bottle show on David Letterman.
Your Turn!
So, are you ready to run out and pick up some soda and Mentos? Have you tried this experiment? What did your kids think about it?
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I had to laugh that the explosion happened so fast you missed the picture. I can so relate. I bet it’s just fun to look it. Pinning this!
I know, Vicky. I should have set up a video camera or something. My head was down, staring at the Mentos, and I actually had to ask the kids how high the geyser shot. They claimed it was taller than the trees, but I’m not so sure. Maybe.
Saw the guys do this at makerfaire. They said that the warmer the soda the bigger the explosion. So leave it in the warm sun all day, and you’ll get a lovely fountain.
Ooooh, thank you Ashley for the great tip. That totally makes sense, but I hadn’t though of it.
We had fun with this one recently, too. Luckily, I was ready for the big explosion! http://www.goexplorenature.com/2012/09/science-corner-mentos-soda-geyser.html
Yes! I am going to pick up the soda and Mentos before I pick up the kids. This is great. My kids are going to be thrilled!
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