A
Diet Coke and Mentos eruption, Also known as a
Mentos eruption or a
coke geyser
is a reaction of
Diet Coke and mint
Mentos candies. A
two-liter bottle of Diet Coke or of another
carbonated beverage is used. Diet Coke is preferred because it
tends to react better. Dropping some Mentos into the bottle,
usually around four, causes the Diet Coke to foam at a rapid rate
and spew into the air. Mint-flavored Mentos are used, as
fruit-flavored Mentos have a smooth coating which slows the
reaction. Because of the spectacular nature of this physical
reaction and the easy availability of the ingredients, the eruption
is a popular subject for Internet videos, also appeared in
non-Internet sources.
A variation of this experiment consists of making the bottle rocket
up by closing the cap shortly after Mentos is inserted and then
slamming the bottle into the ground cap first. The explosion will
generate a reaction like a rocket.
History
Steve Spangler initiated the
Internet phenomenon when he appeared on
9News in 2002 and 2005, both times showcasing the
experiment.
The experiment's result was then further
popularized by the website Eepybird.com, which promoted a video in
which Fritz Grobe and Stephen Voltz re-created the fountain display
seen in front of the Bellagio hotel
in Las Vegas
using a timed series of eruptions. Later
Eepybird videos featured "self-activating" soda jets linked
together to form a
Domino Rally-style
effect. In September 2007, the videos, including the "Extreme Diet
Coke and Mentos Experiments" video that was viewed more than 10
million times, earned the pair the highest yearly payout of
US$50,000 from the
video hosting
service Revver.
The eruption has been reproduced many times by popular sources,
including the television shows
Numb3rs,
Bones, and
MythBusters and an appearance by cast
member
Kari Byron in
FHM magazine, an experiment conducted by
Bart Simpson on
The
Simpsons episode, "
The
Debarted", an appearance on the
Late Show with David
Letterman by physics teacher Lee Marek, and others. The
MythBusters later set the
record highest soda jet recorded, at over 29 feet (9 meters), using
a nozzle.
Setting world records for the most simultaneous
Mentos-and-Diet-Coke Eruptions has become a new challenge for many
groups of people. The original world record - 504 simultaneous
eruptions - was set on May 24, 2007, and was broken on July 10,
2007, by Circle R Ranch and Books Are Fun during a special event in
Flower Mound, Texas. Guinness World Records certified the
record-setting effort when independent sales representatives from
Books Are Fun, a Reader's Digest Company, simultaneously dropped
Mentos into individual two-liter bottles of Diet Pepsi, creating
791 geysers and reaching over 32 feet with the use of a pecker
nozzel.
The next
record was set on April 23, 2008, by students of Ekonomika, the
fraternity for students studying Economics, in the Belgian
city of
Leuven
; they simultaneously launched 1,360 Mentos
geysers. Then, on May 14, 2008, students at Louisville Male
High School
in Louisville, Kentucky, broke that record by
setting off 1,800 simultaneous geysers.
The
current Guinness World Record
— 1,911 simultaneous geysers — was set on June 19, 2008, by
students of The School of Business Administration Turiba in
Latvia
. This record was registered by the official
representative of the Guinness World Record book.
Explanation
In a 2006 episode of
MythBusters, a popular television program
on the
Discovery Channel, the
MythBusters concluded that the
caffeine,
potassium benzoate,
aspartame, and CO
2 gas contained in the
Diet Coke and the
gelatin and
gum arabic
ingredients of the Mentos all contribute to the jet effect. In
addition, the MythBusters theorized that the physical structure of
the Mentos is the most significant cause of the eruption due to
nucleation. When flavored Mentos with a
smooth waxy coating were tested in
carbonated drink, the reaction occurs only
mildly, whereas standard Mentos added to carbonated drink formed an
energetic eruption, by their claim, affirming the nucleation-site
theory. According to the MythBusters, the surface of the mint
Mentos is littered with many small holes, allowing CO
2
bubbles to form very rapidly and in great quantity, in turn causing
the jet of foam. This was further supported when
rock salt was used as an effective substitute for
Mentos.
A paper by Tonya Coffey, a physicist at Appalachian State
University in Boone, North Carolina goes into detail on the reasons
and physics behind the reaction.
Steve Spangler first put the Mentos Geyser in the public eye, has
several videos and detailed experiments about it on his website.
The Geyser Tube is a device invented for use in creating the
reaction.
Popularity
As noted, the eruption has become an internet phenomenon. One
reason for the popularity of this demonstration is its comparative
safety. Because the interaction releases only the small amount of
carbon dioxide present in the liquid, the cola bottle should not
usually rupture if capped—although it is possible to break the
bottle with physical force. This differs from similar
demonstrations with a
dry ice bomb
which has the potential to generate much larger pressures depending
on the amount used. The MythBusters also noted when testing the
experiment that, unlike other materials such as dry ice which are
relatively expensive and rare, Diet Coke and Mentos can be acquired
at almost any local shop in countries where Mentos are sold. Many
high school or middle school science labs experiments are based on
this phenomenon, as it can promote a better understanding of
chemical or physical reactions between elements.
References
- Denver,
Colmy by InternetRetailer on March 27, 2007.
Retrieved April 17, 2007.
- Steve Spangler's personal website at
http://www.stevespangler.com
Further reading
External links
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