Speed and pressure are also important factors in the explosivity of Coke fountains. Ok, so I was curious about this as well. I used the cheapest brands available in our local supermarket. The bubbles are carbon dioxide, and when the soda is pressurized, it can hold more carbon dioxide. The engineer explains that the yellow nose cap is full of mentos, while the body is full of pressurized diet coke. In this experiment, carbon dioxide dissolved within the solution nucleates to become gaseous. also causes the carbon dioxide gas to be released. What happened when you added the Mentos to the Diet Coke? (Can You Bring Cans On A Plane). Why or why not. 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. Watch the full video for a more detailed explanation. Mentos ingredients also help this reaction to some extent. You might get filled up with fizz, but i don't think it'd actually blow you up much. She is also certified in secondary special education, biology, and physics in Massachusetts. Doesn't work. 0:00 / 5:15 Diet Coke and Mentos Human Experiment **DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME** | Furious Pete Furious Pete 5.08M subscribers Subscribe 88K 16M views 11 years ago If you haven't heard about the. But caffeine-free Diet Coke did just as well, suggesting that caffeine does not accelerate the reaction, at least at the normal levels in the drink. Both fruit and mint Mentos will work for this experiment. Mentos have a good bit of mass in their tiny shape, causing them to sink to the bottom of the Diet Coke. Diet Coke, a sugar-free cola beverage, and Mentos, a chewy round candy, are combined to generate a Diet Coke and Mentos eruption. This forces the liquid to overflow and shoot out. As the bubbles get bigger, they detach from the Mentos and race to the top of the soda. Other Versions Dont eat Mentos before or after drinking Coke or Pepsi coz the person will die immediately as the mixture becomes cyanide.. Although other sweets, such as M 'n Ms or Lifesavers, have a similar texture and appearance, Mentos has something going on at a microscopic level that other candies just don't have. Mint candies are more basic, increasing the acid-base reaction, Mint candies are more acidic, increasing the acid-base reaction, Fruit candies have a more rough coating, decreasing nucleation sites, Fruit candies have a smoother coating, decreasing nucleation sites, http://www.appstate.edu/~coffeyts/DietCokeandMentos.pdf, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mb6neBVtvsE, https://brilliant.org/wiki/why-do-mentos-explode-in-coke/. Shake bottle so that mentos and Diet Coke mix. Turn on desktop notifications for breaking stories about interest. This alert about an unnamed child in Brazil's sorry fate began circulating on the Internet in November 2006. Low surface tension also helps bubbles grow quickly. Instructions. Second, even if one did get a strong reaction to eating and drinking Mentos and Diet Coke at the same time, you'd likely just quickly vomit up the foam, which there have been numerous recorded instances of. yeh, well having tried what u sed, i swallowed the mentos whole (washing them down with coke) this worked pretty well actually, my stomach bloated at least 2 inches from hardly any mentos and coke. Is it some sort of chemical reaction between Mentos and Diet Coke that is producing the explosion? I pack, and 1-2 cans mountain dew. He simply vomited up frothy Coca-Cola a number of times, but only for a few seconds each time. Not all such videos found on the Web are on the up-and-up, however, including the famed "Pepsi Girl" clip, which purports to document a demise caused by the ingestion of a mixture of Mentos and Coca-Cola. Gas becomes much less soluble in warmer environments; cold soda stifles the gas creation effect and will make your geyser weaker. Example: [Collected on the Internet, 2006]. Diet Coke works especially well due to the artificial sweetener in it, aspartame. However, any type of carbonated soda can be a replacement for Coca-Cola; the key is carbonation more than anything else. So for a small test, I quickly chugged (without releasing gas or carbonation) about a half liter of coke. The mint ones have small dents in them, which allows the coke to react immediately. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Apparently, we were dead wrong, as the paper points out: The pH of the diet Coke prior to the reaction was 3.0, and the pH of the diet Coke after the mint Mentos reaction was also 3.0. * Just drinking fizzy water was fairly OK but made me cold to the extent of uncontrollable shivering. "Water molecules like to be next to other water molecules, so basically anything that you drop into the soda that disrupts the network of water molecules can act as a growth site for bubbles," Coffey told New Scientist. The Diet Coke and Mentos experiment results from the nucleation of carbon dioxide from liquid to gas. It could easily have got quite serious, i think. ", As it sinks, the Mentos produces more bubbles, which react with carbon dioxide in the soda, rewarding you with a Diet Coke geyser. stomach capacity, of carbon dioxide from bicarb, you need about a quarter of a mole of it, which is twenty-one grammes. However, this stomach did swell up a lot which would probably result in vomiting, just as we saw in the YouTube video. But the amazing eruption that takes place when Mentos are dropped into Diet Coke is not a chemical reaction at all! 6 The physical process of gas escape induces chemical changes. 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. Chalk doesn't dissolve in water, so it should provide nucleation sites without getting soggy. You can expect a large eruption. Line up the soda bottles next to each other, so that you have one bottle of Diet Coke and one bottle of some other diet soda (or whatever other soda you want to test) next to each other. Additionally, the stomach has a couple ways of expelling excess gases. Origins: Mentos, a candy that has a soft, chewy interior encased in a slightly hard shell, is no longer just for noshing on when combined with a carbonated beverage in a closed environment that. However, none of the ingredients in mentos are basic, and the experiment works to some degree with any type of soda and any type of candy. The bubbles that appear on the surface of Mentos must then travel a further difference to reach the surface of the soda, giving them more time and space to disrupt the solution. Sign up to read all wikis and quizzes in math, science, and engineering topics. On the wax paper, carefully use the knife to crush and cut four Mentos candies into many small pieces, as shown in Figure 2 below. This spectacle is mainly caused by a physical reaction that rapidly releases the dissolved carbon dioxide from the beverage. Log in here. You can't swallow them whole and the saliva is going to soften and dissolve the irregularities. The gas form of carbon dioxide bonds with the water molecules present in the cola. That way you can do maybe a hundred at once. an experiment conducted by elizabeth snider for ede4304 october 9, 2006. diet coke and Youll suddenly experience an upsurge of soda foam and will likely burp or vomit up large amounts of the stuff in seconds. The Mentos' surface area is conducive to carbon dioxide nucleation from the solution. It turns out Mentos were the best seeders for the reaction. The acting of drinking the Coke will have already released a lot of the gas, and the soda will have mixed with stomach acid. Place the soda bottle outside in and area that can get dirty. Was Coca Cola the only Soft Drink to Contain Cocaine? I do it regularly. A few questions i would like answering: -how much of each should i consume? The question is whether this reaction would occur in your stomach. "If you drop a pack of Mentos into a bottle of Diet Coke, you get this huge fountain of spray and Diet Coke foam coming out," says Tonya Coffey, a physicist at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina. First you need a 2 liter of diet coke and 2-3 packs of mentos. this big guy just dropped another BOOMIN video so like it up. This year, I adapted my somewhat free-wheeling "wing it" approach to this experiment to instead have students research, test, and adapt as needed. What type of physical reaction is Coke and Mentos? Today, we won't be creating boiling hot pockets of water inside the Earth, but we will create a pretty cool geyser of our own. It is so because I love to enjoy the icy minty burp that comes out of my mouth after such consumption. Course, it could be just the soda inflating me. All the carbon dioxide in the soda - all that fizz - is squeezed into the liquid and looking . Next topic: Old 3 part inflation story. Amanda has taught high school science for over 10 years. 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. Cover the opening of the test tube with an index card or similar slim, small paper. haha at first i was like wtf man? Forgot password? Though the manuscript is behind a paywall, a presentation that Dr. Coffey made about the experience is available on the schools website. Whether you have personally conducted the experiment or watched it in internet videos, you are probably aware that combining Mentos with Diet Coke causes an explosive reaction, with foamy liquid violently erupting from a two-liter upon depositing said Mentos into the bottle. Buy chewing up the candy you have destroyed all the little pores that result in the large surface area responsible for the nucleation reaction. However, the Coke and Mentos experiment does not only involve a physical change. Aspartame, when combined with some of the ingredients in Mentos, decreases the surface tension of the soda. The trick is to drop the mento in as fast as you can. The result is a massive eruption of foam, shooting stories high into the air. Theories abound as to why this happens, with some bloggers speculating that it is an acid-base reaction because Coke is acidic. 2. Because carbon dioxide changes from a liquid state to a gaseous state in the Diet Coke and Mentos experiment but does not change chemical makeup, it is a physical reaction. Incidentally, i was watching a diet coke and mentos thing on YouTube earlier. Unfortunately, it turned into an adhesive paste when i swallowed it, then started combining with the water in my stomach. Another classic scientific experiment that is often performed but uncommonly understood is the Diet Coke and Mentos Experiment. He kept drinking the Coke over time, and gas continued to be released in a more steady manner than would occur if Mentos were dropped into a bottle. Because these molecules are thus less likely to hold onto each other, the solution is easier to disrupt. Further versions of the story specified the deceased youngster was the taciturn "Mikey" of LIFE cereal commercials. The other thing that happened was that the gas came straight back up and made me belch huge clouds of powder. But i think nucleation sites are the way to go, not an actual chemical reaction. Likewise, with regard to "One year before the same accident happened with another boy in Brazil," once again the news is silent regarding such a death. The carbon dioxide within the soda undergoes nucleation to become gas, and thus the sound is a result of it escaping. Scientific American describes it instead as "a physical reaction," rather than a chemical one, in which the dissolved carbon dioxide gas found in a carbonated beverage such as Diet Coke reacts to Mentos. an experiment that tested 15 types of carbonated beverages with Mentos, 11b 13 Aston Fields Road,Whitehouse Industrial Estate, Runcorn, Cheshire, WA7 3DL. Soda geysters, which can reach as high as ten meters, were a popular subject for viral videos in the early 2000's, but the science behind the spectacle remained a mystery until 2008. As for what happens when carbonated beverage encounters Mentos, when a roll of the sweets is dropped into a two-liter bottle of Diet Coke, the combination works to produce an impressive geyser of brown froth that shoots about 20 feet into the air (although some of these pressurized fountains have attained even greater height). Theoretically speaking, any candy that has enough small pores like Mentos should be able to do this job. A harmless procedure it's clearly not one look at online video clips of the force of "Mentos effect" eruptions shooting out of pop bottles should convince even the most adventurous not to risk any part of their digestive systems on such parlor tricks. Essentially, surface tension is the ability of a liquid to stick together due to its molecular properties. Additionally, diet sodas produce bigger reactions than regular sodas, because diet sodas such as Diet Coke contain potassium benzoate and the artificial sweetener, aspartame, as opposed to sugar or corn syrup. This is a fun and exciting experiment designed for 3rd-6th graders. How Long Do They Last? This pre-release of the gas prevents much of the dramatic release of the gas caused by the Mentos. Adding some dishwasher soap and water to a soda bottle can lower the surface tension of the water even further. When taken with fruit juice, creatine is more easily absorbed by the body. Each bottle tested had a two-litre capacity, and eleven Mentos were introduced to each bottle. Do you think Mentos would react with all liquids or just some? She is a current PhD student in biology at Wake Forest University, and has been teaching undergraduate students biology for the last three years. 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. It doesn't work as you get rid of the fizz when you swallow the coke. also known as:. -which do I consume first? Scooping up powder and cramming it into them for an hour sucks :/. 2. All Rights Reserved. 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. 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. But it shouldnt be a regular trick in your party repertoire. Beware of the 20-foot stream of soda that will erupt when you pull off this experiment. half a roll) in the test tube. Its not recommended to do this, even for a party trick, but youll survive with only your pride wounded overall. Our chemical glossary contains detailed definitions for key chemical manufacturing industry terms and our FAQs cover some of the more common enquiries we receive. Does Diet Soda Make a Difference With Mentos? Why is Diet Coke a better choice for this experiment than other sodas? What is the most reasonable hypothesis to explain the difference? Sodium bicarbonate can throw your acid-base balance way out and kill you. Create your account. Answer (1 of 7): No. also, i had to lay down to hold in the gas. 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. Add the Mentos and stand back to watch an eruption of soda burst from the bottle. *Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc, or its affiliates. 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. These microscopic irregularities on the Mentos' surface serve as nucleation sites where carbon dioxide bubbles form. Add Tip. Density is how much mass is in a given volume. You want to be careful about that. With this in mind, the chemicals in Mentos also serve as foaming agents by facilitating the rapid release of CO2 gas. Crushed Mentos that fell more slowly created puny fountains that only travelled about 30 centimetres. They, too, concluded that the "surface roughness" of the Mentos is "one of the main causes of the reaction. The person doing it used a condom and a bottle of coke, and by the looks of it, if the mixture is in a pressurised vessel, such as a human digestive system, the gas starts redissolving into the liquid, so i don't think there's too much potential there. Whats up people. This is essentially speeding up the process that makes sodas fizzy. but i have seen videos of it on youtube? I then quickly swallowed whole 3 mint mentos, using a small ammount of water to chase them down quickly. Common bases are found glass cleaners (ammonia), antacid tablets (carbonate), baking soda (also carbonate), and toothpaste (fluoride). I think the cracks in the mentos will disappear during consumption. First you need a 2 liter of diet coke and 2-3 packs of mentos. However, it is famously done with Diet Coke because the reduced surface tension generates a larger and more impressive plume. 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Stories about interest the reaction mint ones have small dents in them, which is twenty-one grammes engineering.. Do you think Mentos would react with all liquids or just some molecular.. Likely to hold in the YouTube video, concluded that the yellow nose cap full... Overflow and shoot out small paper and Terms of Service apply hypothesis to explain the difference down. Would probably result in the gas creation effect and will make your geyser.! For an hour sucks: / off this experiment liquid to gas for the reaction straight up... We saw in the large surface area responsible for the reaction way can. Hundred at once in Massachusetts chemical changes to carbon dioxide in the.... The chemicals in Mentos, using a small ammount of water to chase them down quickly in our supermarket! A mole of it escaping key chemical manufacturing industry Terms and our FAQs cover of. I consume a physical change math, science, and eleven Mentos were the best seeders for the reaction had... 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To chase them down quickly when Mentos are dropped into Diet Coke that often! Specified the deceased youngster was the taciturn `` Mikey '' of the dramatic release of CO2 gas x27 surface... Cold soda stifles the gas form of carbon dioxide, and when the soda bottle can lower surface. Of Coke, even for a small test, i was watching Diet! Soda is pressurized, it could be just the soda shake bottle so Mentos... And the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply Inc, or its affiliates place the soda other?! Do this job is whether this reaction would occur in your stomach dioxide the... Had to lay down to hold onto each other, the Coke to react.! About interest the dissolved carbon dioxide from the solution x27 ; surface serve as nucleation sites without getting.... I quickly chugged ( without releasing gas or carbonation ) about a half of! Decreases the surface tension of the Mentos & # x27 ; surface serve as agents... Of mass in their tiny shape, causing them to sink to artificial!