Mentos + Soda = Explosion

basically wud the same reaction happen if i used fanta and sugar? im bored a uni student and poor and its friday night

You know you can make seagulls explode if you fill a chip with bi-carb soda and feed it to the bird. Also, jewlery makers use gum arabic in copper enamle, witch is like the coating of glass on earings, braclets or broachers.

would this be a good science expirement?

It can't be the gum arabic, that's on the inside of the candy. The reaction is far to fast to have disolved any large amount of gum arabic. It must have something to do with the menthol in the candy.
It isn't the surface area of the candy or ice would do the same thing. I've put M&Ms; and other candies in pop before and never had a reaction like this before.
I did get a similar reaction when I put some ground ginger in some ginger ale.

nice romur. I think i'll try it with a 2 liter bottle of PEPSI and put the whole pack of mentos in. Post report later!!!!

That movie was cool as!
It works with poprocks and coke but just crackles alot. Anyway thats cool man good work!8)

this is too cool! i did it at school for science class. what a mess...is it the mint? is it the sugar? is it the gum how does one find the answer? SCIENCE IS FUNNN.now everyone is jumping online to find similar experiments...does it make a difference whether the soda is cold or hot?

hey josh im not to sure about the hot or cold.

whoa geeeeesssssee haha wow thats almost as sticking nine volt batterys to your tounge haha would it work with gum?????????

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if anyone still reads these, then consider this:
the Aspartam theory is false, because this works with club soda, and for many, many other reasons,
the gum arabic is out, since that's the stuff that makes mentos chewy, and once the outer shell disolves the reaction stops, and the nucleation can't be, because even once the scratches and imperfections have been disolved, the reaction continues (this occurs some time between when the fizz is completely gone, and most of the eruption is over. also, if you want to try using the mentos and soda in your stomach, you would have to swallow the metos whole, i think. i don't want to try it, so i'm not exactly sure..... but i think the reaction is caused by somthing in the outer shell.

okay so me and a couple of friends are thinking about doing this for a science experiment for school!
i have a couple questions...

1. does the drink have to be 'diet coke' or can it be any kind of carbonated drink?

2. i read that it has to be a 2-liter bottle and cant be the smaller bottles is that true...if so why??

3. and i just tried it in my back yard with 'coke' it WAS pretty cool but it didnt explode very high..or at all! it kinda just dripped over the sides...like a volcano...but it went everywhere...i was waiting for it to shoot up really far! did it not shoot up because it wasnt 'diet coke' or a '2-liter bottle'??

please respond...ASAP!! i need this very soon!

Test all sizes, diets, and non-diet, Coke, Pepsi.

I would say that it only does it with certain sizes due to the quantity of certain ingredients. But then again, Im not a scientist. Good Luck

Here is the science behind it:

The reason why Mentos work so well is two fold - Tiny pits on the surface of the candy and the weight of the candy. Each Mentos candy has thousands of tiny pits all over the surface. These tiny pits are called nucleation sites - perfect places for carbon dioxide bubbles to form. As soon as the Mentos hit the soda, bubbles form all over the surface of the candy. Couple this with the fact that the Mentos candies are heavy and sink to the bottom of the bottle and you

Hi,
You are AWESOME. Who would ever even think to that in the first place. Keep doing what you are doing and make us happy, not like you have to try or anything.

Yes, the nucleation sites are the cause. For an even more violent reaction you could pour granulated sugar into the soda through a funnel. Nucleation sites are also what causes bubbles to form on the sides of glasses containing beer or soda.

i think this iz cool me and my friend were going to do this as a sceince fair project after we saw this but we changed are mined and we did this outside of school and made money off it! :exclaim:

well thax for da add i really like da pop thing! 😊 :lol: :cheese: :roll: 😉 :zip:

this is a very cool experiment!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:sick:

it would be funny to see some one throwing up soda and mentos!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :exclaim: 😊 :roll: :roll:

thatsstupid

The explanation for this reaction is exactly as explained, it is the arabic gum that decreases the surface tension and intermolecular reactions between the atoms contained in soda. This in turn releases the CO2 that was pressurized into the liquid. Diet pepsi works the best, the reason for this? compared to all other carbonated sodas, diet pepsi has the most carbonation. The fact that mentos have small imperfections is but an aside that might help very little, but not in any quantifiable way as any object... ANY object on the molecular level (the level CO2 operates on) has small imperfections.

It's not Mentos per se that cause this reaction (and definitely not gum arabic, which is located underneath the Mentos shell), though as indicated above, Mentos are covered with microscopic pits to provide nucleation sites which attract carbon dioxide.

You can get an almost identical reaction by pouring coarse salt (about a tablespoon) into the top of the bottle. The resulting gusher is about five to six feet high, whereas a Mentos reaction can be in excess of 12 feet. My educated guess is that the height difference results from the Mentos sinking quickly to the bottom of the bottle, causing the trapped carbon dioxide throughout the bottle to rush to the bottom, resulting in a tremendous pressure differential.

However you look at it, it's a fun, safe experiment that gets a great reaction every time.

I suppose if you wanted to know if it related to the menthanol, you could drop some menthanol vicks vapor rub into soda and see if that worked, or drop cinnamon mentos into the soda...I've no idea what's in mentos, so I can't even suspect what would cause it to react. Although, the arabic gum theory sounds plausable.

I heard a story on NPR saying it wasn't the aspartame or the gum arabic. They said it was the rough surface of the Mentos, which makes sense. With any soda, CO2 comes out of solution from Carbonic Acid (H2CO3). The dissolved CO2 makes the Carbonic Acid, but there is quite a bit of CO2. So much that CO2 comes out of solution immediately once you open the soda bottle. Warm soda and rough surfaces expedite this process. M&M's don't work very well because they are much smoother. This is NOT a hoax because eating Diet Coke and Mentos together is not the same as putting a TON of Mentos in a WHOLE BOTTLE of Diet Coke. Have you ever burped after eating the two? Makes sense doesn't it. Of course you're not going to explode, you can release the small amount of CO2 you've ingested with no problem.

We did a 2 liter Diet Pepsi last week here at work with 20 Mentos, and got about 8 or 9ft. We did a Diet Dr Pepper about 20 mins ago with only 13 Mentos (we're running out) and got about 12ft. Diet Dr. Pepper works *much* better than Diet Pepsi.

We're trying Mug Root Beer tomorrow (mainly because I want to drink the minty Root Beer remnants afterwards; mint root beer tastes great), but I doubt we'll get as high as the Dr. Pepper achieved.

We also are talking about a version of the experiment using actual beer.

You know, I don't think I saw one person even close to being right.

Anyone of you could've wiki'd it, or even just googled it, but none of you did.

In the future guys, either do some research before you speak, or pass grade 8.

make the pepsi really cold prefferably at 33 degrees farenhieght because carbon is stored tightly ay cold temp ,so colder means fizzyer

i drank a 2 liter bottle of diet coke and swallowed two mentos. Results: fizz came threw my throat and nose and i was in the hospital for 2 days and i have to take medication for three months. it was so worth it!

This is the real deal! Diet Coke and Mentos really does react. Have a look at CokeMentos.com to see more. We tried it ourselves and it worked, surprisingly enough.

;-P sick! this was cool!! :cheese: :gulp:

I still can

I did this with a 1.5 liter bottle of Diet Coke and some Watermelon Mentos. Absolutely nothing happened. Was it 1.5 liter vs. 2.0 liters, or Diet Coke vs. Diet Pepsi, or Watermelon Mentos vs. Mint Mentos that caused it to fail?

we put mentos in diet coke today at our science camp.It was awesome!!! I did it when i got home. But i got in trouble because i used my mama's diet coke. :lol:

wILL IT WORK WITH FLAT SODA?
NEED TO KNOW ASAP PLEASE oops sorry for the CAPS it was locked

BE CAREFUL WITH THIS EXPERIMENT!! I watched my friend drop a pack of Mentos into a bottle of Dr Pepper, quickly put the cap on and shake it. The bottle exploded in his hands and he had to be taken to the hospital. Tiny bits of plastic got in his eye and neck. If you do the experiment as shown on the video, then you should be ok but for goodness sakes don't try to cap the bottle once the mentos are in!

I have a feeling that it's either the Carbon dioxide in the softdrinks or the aspartame or whatever makes the diet beverage "diet". The one way to clear up the latter condition is to test it out on non diet softdrinks and see how the reaction goes. if it still happens then we know it has to do with the CO2 and how it reacts to whatever is in/comprises the mentos. If not then we know it's a particular chemical/family of chemicals in diet beverages that helps cause the reaction to take place.

The best explanation that I could find...
from EepyBird.com:

Several people theorized that a substance called gum arabic in the Mentos breaks the surface tension of the soda, allowing the carbon dioxide bubbles to escape rapidly. This explanation doesn

Many scientists claim that the Mentos phenomenon is a physical reaction, not a chemical one. Water molecules strongly attract each other, linking together to form a tight mesh around each bubble of carbon dioxide gas in the soda. In order to form a new bubble, or even to expand a bubble that has already formed, water molecules must push away from each other. It takes extra energy to break this "surface tension." In other words, water "resists" the expansion of bubbles in the soda.

When you drop the Mentos into the soda, the gelatin and gum arabic from the dissolving candy break the surface tension. This disrupts the water mesh, so that it takes less work to expand and form new bubbles. Each Mentos candy has thousands of tiny pits all over the surface. These tiny pits are called nucleation sites - perfect places for carbon dioxide bubbles to form. As soon as the Mentos hit the soda, bubbles form all over the surface of the candy. Couple this with the fact that the Mentos candies are heavy and sink to the bottom of the bottle and you've got a double-whammy. When all this gas is released, it literally pushes all of the liquid up and out of the bottle in an incredible soda blast. You can see a similar effect when cooking potatoes or pasta are lowered into a pot of boiling water. The water will sometimes boil over because organic materials that leach out of the cooking potatoes or pasta disrupt the tight mesh of water molecules at the surface of the water, making it easier for bubbles and foam to form.

So in essence it is both the suface and the gum arabic.

I gotta try this.

lol im doing this today in the park as a rocket and recording it for my website! nice

One mento in a bottle of diet pepsi doesn't do much. But 10 sets it off!!! Fun!! Make sure your pepsi is run temp.

i too would like to see a person(or kid 😉 )throw up diet coke and mentos....HEHE!It probably comes out through the nose too!!! 😝

OMG!!! :grrr: in his eye and neck
i gotta be careful
im gonna do it soon
yay!

Hi, I am doing a Science fair report on Diet Coke and Mentos. I was wondering is it just the mentos that causes it to explode? If so, why doesn't it work in normal coke, or mt. dew? What is it that makes "Diet" coke so special? Does IT also have a chemical that causes it to explode?
I know the Arabic gum checmical causes it to somewhat explode, but what is it that really gets it?
If you could let me know I would be very Thankful!
Thank You!
--Micah

who wants to be my friend??? 😕
:(

mentos are good!!!MMMMM

Im doing this experiment for my project/report.yes im still in school!!!Its more boooooring when you have to write like 4 pages about it!URGH!!! :coolgrin:

Cool, 'sept this is so a "DUUUUUHHHH", it's not only the arabic gum that does it ppl... The carbine dioxide builds up in there, due to the chemicals mixing, then it will build up pressure, finding only one way out.. The top. It will then shoot out, and then stop, after the pressure gets out.

ok soooo if this whole thing w/ mentos & soda is true ill find out..... b/c me and my friend are doing it 4 a science progect........ just 2 see wat happens