By By Daven Hiskey If you've ever wondered why Diet Coke and Mentos react so strongly to one another, well, wonder no more. If you tried to swallow the foam as is emerged from the bottle, you might well vomit because of all the gas you swallowed, but you most certainly would not die Picture: By Michael Murphy - Mich. But the process is constant and grows exponentially. Since 2005 the Coke & Mentos reaction has been wow-ing children and adults everywhere - when it goes well! Creatine can be taken as a supplement to help improve athletic performance and increase muscle mass. The rest of the process happens thanks to the physical properties of Mentos. They are dense and sink. Now, make a Mentos-and-soda fountain! They, too, concluded that the "surface roughness" of the Mentos is "one of the main causes of the reaction. As the bubbles get bigger, they detach from the Mentos and race to the top of the soda. Mentos has thousands of tiny bumps over its surface even though the candy might look smooth to the naked eye. I dunno, I've chewed up a mentos and dropped it in soda- still fizz's just fine. Pouring soda into a muddy hole in the ground does the same, so the Mentos are totally unnecessary. Their surfactant properties then lower the surface tension of the Coke, which breaks apart the water molecules and, in doing so, allows carbon dioxide bubbles to form more readily. Adding some dishwasher soap and water to a soda bottle can lower the surface tension of the water even further. All content 2019 by Eric Troy and CulinaryLore. Buy chewing up the candy you have destroyed all the little pores that result in the large surface area responsible for the nucleation reaction. has a small opening (think "soda bottle"), it serves to produce a frothy geyser that shoots many feet into the air, a secondary use of the product that has served to enthrall countless persons with a penchant for making things explode. You press it onto a heap of half-capsules of one side, press an identical one onto a heap of the other half of capsules, cover one layer in powder and place the other one precisely on top of it, capsules down. Why is Diet Coke a better choice for this experiment than other sodas? 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. However, this stomach did swell up a lot which would probably result in vomiting, just as we saw in the YouTube video. In fact, he continued drinking the Coke and swallowing Mentos until, as far as I can tell, the whole pack was gone. Aluminum Foil: Should the Shiny Side be Up or Down When Cooking? The place i normally order it from has been most unreliable lately, hence the halt in the "research". The gas form of carbon dioxide bonds with the water molecules present in the cola. A pigs stomach is, by the way, a very good match for a human stomach. Your membership is the foundation of our sustainability and resilience. If too much of the fizz escapes before you add the mento the reaction . As previously stated, the surface of Mentos candies is what makes this reaction work. Thankfully, theres already a well-known escape hatch located at your mouth. Course, it could be just the soda inflating me. Procedure: Stack the Mentos candies (approx. Date Of Creation: 17 September 2021. They are so small you cant even see them, but they number in the thousands, at least. Ok, so I was curious about this as well. Mentos ingredients also help this reaction to some extent. The Diet Coke and Mentos reaction is a fun demonstration in chemistry and physics classes of many important concepts in thermodynamics, fluid dynamics, surface science, and . In an . However, there are very few candies with the same kind of porous surface as Mentos, which is why the science experiment is typically done with these candies instead of others. (2008). The Diet Coke and Mentos reaction is a common experiment performed in many science classes. Thousands of microscopic carbon dioxide bubbles accumulate in these pockets, which then leaves gaps inside the bottle. 1. The surface tension of the water allowed it to fill above the rim of the glass. In this case, ice melting into water is a physical reaction. 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. 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. The formation of carbon dioxide bubbles is like a chain reaction that exponentially accumulates, causing pressure to build in a fraction of a second. Why does the reaction happen? Pop a bottle and have a browse. This is the same thing that happens to any other container with volatile ingredients. The force exerted by the soda stream can be harnessed to do work. 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. Those who have disregarded common sense and tried such anyway report that the intensity of the reaction forces the mouth open, thereby releasing most of the gas and foam into the wild, as it were, rather than keeping them contained within the person. but then after an hour i realised my tummy had gone down, so it had risen, i just hadnt noticed alot lol. Make sure you do it outside. Diet coke and mentos are both calorie-rich drinks, which can contribute to weight gain. While science teachers have been dropping candies and mints into 2-liter bottles of soda for years in an effort to release all of the dissolved carbon dioxide, the Mentos and Diet Coke reaction became world famous in 2005. What is the Difference Between Convection and Induction Cooking? 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. Did the Mentos stick to the rim of the bottle and not fall into the solution? A lot of people, myself included, believe the diet coke + Mentos reaction is the same as the baking soda + vinegar "volcano" reactions that we all did as kids. Mentos reacts strongly to all carbonated drinks owing to some of its molecular properties. If this were the case, eating Mentos and drinking soda may indeed be dangerous. Diet Coke is preferred because its chemical properties result in the largest geyser. If you shake the can first, you disrupt the solution and get a face full of soda. Speed also matters, and the faster the Mentos sinks, the larger the eruption. Since the Mentos merely facilitates the creation of bubbles, the candy will continue to act as a catalyst for carbon dioxide bubble formation until all of the surrounding CO2 has been exhausted in the bottle. Any type of soda is pressurized to keep it fizzy inside the bottle. It could easily have got quite serious, i think. Copyright 2023 @ Sodoapopcraft.com Watson-Publishing Limited Co. Telephone: +441414590217 Email: [emailprotected]. The gum is similar to the stuff in mentos, gum Arabic, which releases gas from fizzy drinks even if added alone. Once again there hadn't been such a child, but that did little to slow the rumor's spread. The results of the experiment are shown in the illustration below: The types of solutes in the soda mixture also have effects on the height of the fountain. What makes Cola and Mentos react? Regular soda uses sugar or corn syrup to derive most of its sweetening flavor, but diet soda eschews these ingredients in the name of fewer calories and better health. There is no danger in eating Mentos mints while drinking Coca-Cola. It certainly wont be comfortable and Mentos, but there arent any real health risks from doing so. It causes me no vomiting as well as no. Buy chewing up the candy you have destroyed all the little pores that result in the large surface area responsible for the nucleation reaction. I've tried it, unsuccessfully. No news accounts of such a death (in Brazil or elsewhere) have surfaced, and given the media's interest in "Mentos effects," such write-ups wouldn't have gasped their last on a jaded editor's desk because they weren't deemed sufficiently newsworthy to include in that day's edition of the local rag. She has a Master's Degree in Cellular and Molecular Physiology from Tufts Medical School and a Master's of Teaching from Simmons College. Search Pepsi Girl + Mentos. Mentos candies are not as smooth as they appear to the naked eye. I was snorting gum out of it for hours afterwards. Plus, some folks swear diet sodas make for higher geysers. Acids also . What could you do to make your eruption bigger? Why do Mentos and Diet Coke react so strongly? -do I chew the mentos? I'm Chris Watson, the chap that brings you Soda Pop Craft. All content published on theReAgent.ieblog is for information only. This hands-on experiment is easy to do and simply involves dropping Mentos into a bottle of diet soda and running away. Numerous video clips of "Mentos eruptions" exist on the Internet; one needn't search all that diligently to stumble across scads of them. Dangerous (Do not drink Coka-Cola and eat MENTOS together)Last week a little boy died in Brazil after eating MENTOS and drinking COCA COLA together. This uneven texture provides a perfect surface to disrupt the solution and serves as an excellent attachment point for nucleated bubbles of gas. 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. Further versions of the story specified the deceased youngster was the taciturn "Mikey" of LIFE cereal commercials. Just getting the Mentos into your stomach will likely disrupt some of the surface. Maybe your stomach would explode! Anything that breaks them apart allows for bubbles of carbon dioxide gas to form in the solution. Turn on desktop notifications for breaking stories about interest. Experiments in a 2006 edition of the Discovery Channel programme Mythbusters suggested the chemicals responsible for the reaction are gum arabic and gelatine in the sweets, and caffeine, potassium benzoate and aspartame in the Coke. Take the geyser tube and put all the mentos in it from the packet. With this in mind, the chemicals in Mentos also serve as foaming agents by facilitating the rapid release of CO2 gas. if the chalk method works well, tell me please :). 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). Next, get ready to drop your Mentos into the Diet Coke. The chemical reactions involved in dropping mentos candies into a bottle of diet coke make quite the spectacle! So, if you open a bottle of soda gently, you get a pleasant beverage. Concerning getting powder into capsules, you can get or make something for this. When the Mythbusters performed this experiment, even dumping the contents of a Mentos and Cola fountain directly into the stomach did not cause it to burst. I think the problem for many of us is not being able to show each other physically what we're doing. Its relatively easy to do because the materials are readily available: with nothing but a few Mentos and a bottle of Coke, you can trigger an immediate, explosive reaction, making this a very simple yet very fun (if slightly messy) experiment. Since the escaping gas either comes out in the form of a long burp or in foam thats expelled through vomiting, the issue basically stops once the soda has evacuated your stomach in one way or another. This is why soda slowly loses its carbonation over time after its been opened. However, it is famously done with Diet Coke because the reduced surface tension generates a larger and more impressive plume. So, any rough surface inside the bottle will cause the carbon dioxide molecules to cluster together in a process called nucleation, which forms bubbles. This spectacle is mainly caused by a physical reaction that rapidly releases the dissolved carbon dioxide from the beverage. Drop several Mentos into a bottle of coke or lemonade, and a huge eruption of bubbles shoots out several meters high. These experiments are classic because they are excellent examples of basic scientific properties, which can be learned in a fun and interactive way. You press it onto a heap of half-capsules of one side, press an identical one onto a heap of the other half of capsules, cover one layer in powder and place the other one precisely on top of it, capsules down. Christina graduated with a Master's in biology from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. If you down a large amount of soda, the carbon dioxide is released. Key Takeaways: Mentos and Coke Trick. While there are many stories of people dying from suddenly exploding due to the rush of carbon dioxide expanding in their stomach, none of these stories are factually true and no video footage has ever been recorded of such an accident. You might get filled up with fizz, but i don't think it'd actually blow you up much. For instance, in photosynthesis, water and carbon dioxide are transformed into sugar. This lesson analyzes this classic experiment in more detail to understand the following learning objectives: To unlock this lesson you must be a Study.com Member. According to legend, said child went out with a bang. Mentos that drift peacefully through the soda will have a weaker reaction in comparison. Shake bottle so that mentos and Diet Coke mix. In effect, you have rendered the candy harmlessit's just candy. Then. When Diet Coke and Mentos join, the result should be a large fountain of foamy soda that erupts from the bottle. The result is a massive eruption of foam, shooting stories high into the air. He was claimed to have died after eating Pop Rocks candy with soda. 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. 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. 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. Beast: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDZESjYAwh-ws7ZSZZ8DKeg The short answer is that eating Mentos by chewing them up while drinking Coca-Cola, or any other soda, will little to no effect. Add Tip. 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. Because these molecules are thus less likely to hold onto each other, the solution is easier to disrupt. It works fine, the coke fizzes because of the cracks in the mentos, not the chemical makeup. When combining Diet Coke and Mentos, one would get a physical reaction. 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. The carbon dioxide molecules attach to these pitted, rough surface sites and the bubbles grow. Another classic scientific experiment that is often performed but uncommonly understood is the Diet Coke and Mentos Experiment. I've always had to explore this entire fetish on my own, that is, without anyone physically present i can share it with, and that probably makes me dogmatic and inflexible. Various types of carbonated beverages react differently with Mentos: Seltzer water has the weakest reaction while, very specifically, Diet Cherry Dr. Pepper has the strongest reaction. They are a pain in the ass to make, though. The candy's shell is pocked with little nooks and crannies the beverage's carbon dioxide molecules are immediately drawn to, and the confection's relatively large surface area provides infinitely more such nooks and crannies (nucleation sites) than, say, an M&M would. Mentos are denser than Diet Coke. Don't worry, legitimate scientists have actually studied this thing. No evidence was ever found that this story was true. This sound is a result of nucleation. I tried it aboutan hour ago, still no inflation results so far, I had 1 pack of mentos and a can of pepsi max (does pepsi max work?) It doesn't work as you get rid of the fizz when you swallow the coke. The carbon dioxide within the soda undergoes nucleation to become gas, and thus the sound is a result of it escaping. Low surface tension also helps bubbles grow quickly. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. New user? Try a new bottle of Diet Coke and a new package of Mentos. Here's What Really Causes Diet Coke And Mentos To React. The reaction is so intense, you can make a rocket propelled by . This experiment is an example of a physical reaction (which changes the state of a substance), not a chemical reaction (which changes the chemical makeup of a substance). Create an account to start this course today. Here's what they found. This will help you get them all in at once before the eruption happens. Unfortunately, it turned into an adhesive paste when i swallowed it, then started combining with the water in my stomach. Many people speculated that the geyser was the result of an acid base reaction, given the low pH of soda. But i think nucleation sites are the way to go, not an actual chemical reaction. To find out more, Coffey and a team of students tested the reactions between Diet Coke and fruit Mentos, mint Mentos, and various ingredients such as other mints, dish-washing detergent, table salt and sand. The answer to this involves a property called surface tension. * Just drinking fizzy water was fairly OK but made me cold to the extent of uncontrollable shivering. However, your stomach is not enough of a seal to keep this sudden pressure change contained inside. However, most of the carbonation is released from the soda as it is being drunk, so the pressure is lower and carbon dioxide is less likely to nucleate. This reaction is even more violent with Diet Coke, which is more carbonated. A mint-flavored mentos makes a geyser 5 meters high and a fruit-flavored mentos makes a geyser 2 meters high when the two candies are put into identical bottles of soda under identical experimental conditions. This forces the liquid to overflow and shoot out. The project was eventually published in the American Journal of Physics. A yard or large patio (without furniture nearby) with a sturdy, flat surface will work great. Mentos candies typically have gum Arabic and gelatin in their formulas. Occasional vomiting from sickness or a stomach bug is normal, but forcing yourself to throw up soda and candy at every party is a one-way ticket to extra complications. I might be expecting too much. What Does "All Day" Mean in Restaurant Slang. I pack, and 1-2 cans mountain dew. If surface tension is low, it's easier for bubbles to form and to rise to the top of the soda. Invert the test tube, holding the cover in place. 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 . 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. The gruesome appeal of the combusted tot story kept the legend in circulation long after it had been repeatedly debunked and dismissed. The results showed that Diet Coke created the most spectacular explosions with either fruit or mint Mentos, the fountains travelling a horizontal distance of up to 7 metres. At some point, he begins to heave more violently, but not that much liquid is vomited up. But the bubbling youll feel on your insides isnt easy or gentle, so it shouldnt be performed regularly. Speed and pressure are also important factors in the explosivity of Coke fountains. Diet soda stereotypically has a better reaction than regular soda. I vaguely remember that episode. Your stomach is surrounded by many other internal organs that shift normally when you eat a large meal. Thats why you feel bloated and your burp. Mentos react with Diet Coke because their rough surfaces provide suitable sites for rapid growth of carbon dioxide bubbles, according to Mental Floss magazine. No chemical reaction occurs either way, Mentos+Coke is a physical reaction. First, the act of drinking soda releases quite a bit of the carbonation in it, limiting the possible effect. First you need a 2 liter of diet coke and 2-3 packs of mentos. All of the tiny pores on a Mentos surface break the polar bonds between the carbon dioxide and the water, which is why any Mentos candy with a smooth surface fails to produce any reaction at all. The rough, dimply surfaces of Mentos encourage bubble growth because they efficiently disrupt the polar attractions between water molecules, creating bubble growth sites. Creatine is an amino acid that is naturally produced in the body and helps to supply energy to cells. a popular reaction:. 124 lessons. Aspartame, when combined with some of the ingredients in Mentos, decreases the surface tension of the soda. Why or why not. All rights reserved. This alert about an unnamed child in Brazil's sorry fate began circulating on the Internet in November 2006. These chemicals are found in the shell itself as well as in the soda mixture, and they contribute to the formation of pressurised foam. However, most of the carbonation is released from the soda as it is being drunk, so the pressure is lower and carbon dioxide is less likely to nucleate. The effect it has on your acid levels is minimal, as long as you don't over do it (which is true for most things). Mentos Geyser Experiment. Make sure you move quickly away from the Diet Coke and stand back from the eruption after you add the Mentos. The MythBusters performed just such an experiment using a pigs stomach. Essentially, surface tension is the ability of a liquid to stick together due to its molecular properties. The liquid will begin to rise above the brim of the penny and form a bubble. I'm a guy. Surely, then, you dont want to eat Mentos while drinking Coca-Cola, lest this reaction occurs in your stomach. "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. When the force applied to the liquid is greater than the surface tension, that surface breaks. coke geyser. A lack of sugar makes the soda mixture less viscous, given the presence of sweeteners, like aspartame, lowering the surface tension even more than usual. Acids are often sour tasting. It's every 8th grader's dream either you spew a volcano of soda or you explode. The Diet Coke and Mentos experiments turn a sugar-free cola beverage and chewy candies into a geyser. As well as brewing my own homemade soda concoctions. Though the manuscript is behind a paywall, a presentation that Dr. Coffey made about the experience is available on the schools website. You may want an adult to help you crush the Mentos candies. [1], Tonya Coffey, a professor at Appalachian State University, used the experiment to give her undergraduate physics class a real-world research experience as one of their laboratory assignments. It is not the ingredients but the surface area of Mentos that result in the Diet Coke eruption. Then drink a little over half slowly in give or take 2 min. You can expect a large eruption. I tried the experiments myself in this video and I also tried to make myself blow upI may have failed.Furious Apparel http://www.furiouspete.comMy Camera Gear: http://bit.ly/WhatIShootWithSubscribe to Daily Vlogs! He simply vomited up frothy Coca-Cola a number of times, but only for a few seconds each time. -does pepsi max work as a substitute for diet coke? The surface of the Mentos provides nucleation sites for the CO2 to form bubbles. Log in. So, in a nutshell (or, more aptly, a Mentos shell), soda mixtures with more sugar in them are more viscous, making their reactions less powerful. You could even theoretically accomplish this with club soda, although the surface tension of the water wouldnt be weakened since club soda only has a few basic ingredients. an experiment that tested 15 types of carbonated beverages with Mentos, 11b 13 Aston Fields Road,Whitehouse Industrial Estate, Runcorn, Cheshire, WA7 3DL. Try to keep as much of the co2 in the coke ie not shaking it. Answer (1 of 7): No. The Coke-Mentos experiment is one of the most popular science experiments and also one of the most well-known. Sign up to read all wikis and quizzes in math, science, and engineering topics. The team also investigated the total mass lost in the fountain and the influence of the sweet's surface roughness. The trick is to drop the mento in as fast as you can. Common bases are found glass cleaners (ammonia), antacid tablets (carbonate), baking soda (also carbonate), and toothpaste (fluoride). Theories abound as to why this happens, with some bloggers speculating that it is an acid-base reaction because Coke is acidic. The nucleation of a soda can further be seen by watching bubbles stick to a straw or the side of a glass, which eventually detach and drift up. Then I immediately chugged another half liter or so of coke. This is likely for two reasons. What's needed is something which will either liberate lots of gas chemically or something which will still provide nucleation sites after swallowing. The eruption you get when you mix Mentos and Coke is generated by the rough coating of the candy, which causes lots of bubbles to form rapidly on its surface when it's placed in a carbonated beverage. Why does Mentos react to soda? copyright 2003-2023 Study.com. Ok, so I was curious about this as well. Additionally, the stomach has a couple ways of expelling excess gases. It turns out that Mentos have a very porous surface, with thousands of tiny indentations, perfect for nucleation. Surfactants lower the surface tension between two liquids, a liquid and a solid, or between a gas and a liquid. One enterprising group made a mentos and diet coke-powered rocket. And if you add a big enough surfactant, you get a geyser. you got good ideas, let me know!WOOOOOW. Once you drop the Mentos into the coke, stand back as it's VERY explosive. 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. Place a piece of wax paper on top of the cutting board. also, i had to lay down to hold in the gas. Non-diet cola doesn't work at all because of the sugar. Ok, so i was wonderin about coke and mentos inflation. The resulting splash from diet soda with this mixture would surely be something to record. 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. You should also follow any safety advice and precautions listed on the product label. Read all Stars Jamie Hyneman In this experiment, carbon dioxide dissolved within the solution nucleates to become gaseous. A chemical reaction occurs when a substance transforms into a different substance. Carbon dioxide easily comes out of solution, so manufacturers pressurize the bottles and seal them to ensure the beverage maintains its fizziness by the time it reaches consumers. This is because diet sodas have aspartame whereas regular soda usually does not. Still not quite getting it? We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. The mints are small oblate spheroids, with a slightly hard exterior and a soft, chewy interior.. This keeps the bubble growth going. also known as:. June 15, 2008 -- The startling reaction between Diet Coke and Mentos sweets, made famous in thousands of YouTube videos, finally has a scientific explanation. Instead, the vigour of the jets depends on various factors that affect the growth rate of carbon dioxide bubbles. 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. This is the same thing that happens to any other container with volatile ingredients. Not surprising from a fellow who doesnt think people actually buy Mentos casually. No Dude, they just make them for Coca-Cola experiments.
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