[17] This record was afterward beaten in November 2014 by another event organized by Perfetti Van Melle and Chupa Chups in Len, Guanajuato, Mexico, where 4,334 Mentos and soda fountains were set off simultaneously. He would like to know why does the shape and size of the mentos affect the outcome of the project. With 5 or 6 mentos the explosion went only 330 and 310 cm high. This chemistry science kit includes activities for solo and group experiments, making it a fantastic addition to your classroom or for fun at home. The seltzer and tonic water trials had the same expiration date and were manufactured by the same company. The uncertainty is approximately 10%. As luck would have it, the solution to the problem was within arms reach of the Wintergreen LifeSavers in the candy aisle: Mentos chewy mint candies! If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it. This science kit seeks to challenge kids to solve problems in creative ways that will prepare them for future science classes and nurture their lifelong imagination. All of the samples were at room temperature unless otherwise indicated. Mixing Coke and Mentos looks like a chemical change, but since the gas released is carbon dioxide AND it was present before the foaming happened, it is actually a physical change. The winning Geyser Tube design was a clear plastic tube with a special fitting that twisted onto any soda bottle. Instead of Mentos mints candy, however, they used a roll of Wintergreen LifeSavers and a pipe cleaner. Team students up and have them collaborate to figure out chemistry experiments or give your own kids a fun, rainy day activity that will get them excited about learning. Nucleation sites are the regions where the carbon dioxide gas gathers and forms bubbles. Science teachers started experimenting (as they like to do) with other candies and mints that would have the same effect when dropped into a bottle of soda. [3][11][12] In March 2002, Steve Spangler, a science educator, did the demonstration on KUSA-TV, an NBC affiliate, in Denver, Colorado. The quantitative roughness information detailed in Table V was taken from this image. This will work on any drink that is carbonated. (Compare the volcanic explosions of Mt. students used this simple device to monitor the kinetics of foam production in the Diet Coke and Mentos experiment and to draw conclusions about the system. The contestant ended up doing really well, going all the way to the $250,000 question; however, he walked away with $125,000. It is very simple to do and requires minimal tools and equipment to execute correctly. We examined the reaction between Diet Coke and samples of Mint Mentos, Fruit Mentos, a mixture of Dawn Dishwashing detergent and water, playground sand, table salt, rock salt, Wint-o-Green Lifesavers, a mixture of baking soda and water, liquid gum arabic, and molecular sieve beads (typically found in sorption pumps). But it has nothing to do with the mint Mentos actual flavor. Thanks also to Guichuan Hou and Phil Russell for their help in acquiring the SEM images, and to Donovan Leonard for his help in acquiring some of the AFM images. [15] Amazing Toys, Spangler's toy company, released the Geyser Tube toys in February 2007. 4, and some of the AFM images are shown in Figs. Copyright 2023 Education.com, Inc, a division of IXL Learning All Rights Reserved. Youll need lots of soda and Mentos, as well as a few friends to help record all of the data. The Diet Coke and Mentos experiment results from an increased rate of nucleation. The Diet Coke and Mentos experiment results from the nucleation of carbon dioxide from liquid to gas. Sticking a finger into a glass of soda will result in the formation of tiny bubbles full of carbon dioxide that stick to the skin. And its a great way to learn about chemical reactions. Contact mode AFM image of Wint-o-Green Lifesaver. This must been coined as the Pepsi Paradox. 3 I recently led a large group of undergraduate physics students in a cooperative research project to Enough mass was deposited by the Hawaiian hot spot to form the islands, but the eruptions were comparatively gentle.) WebWith the Coke and mint mentos experiment, coke and fruit mentos were very similar as the coke and mint mentos took 31 seconds to complete the reaction while coke and fruit mentos took 22 seconds to complete in total. The answer is a process called nucleation (Grobe & Voltz, n.d.). This will help you make an informed guess as to what will happen. The Diet The dependent variable was the height of the rise of Coca-Cola. In conclusion the hypothesis that the diet coke will have the greatest explosion because of the high level of CO2 gas contained in it was correct. The experiment became a subject of the television show MythBusters in 2006. ", "Science of Mentos-Diet Coke explosions explained", "Bubble nucleation from gas cavities a review", "Ethanol as a Probe for the Mechanism of Bubble Nucleation in the Diet Coke and Mentos Experiment", "Does the Mentos and Soda Trick Work With Regular Coke? The candies catalyze the release of gas from the beverage, which creates an eruption that pushes most of the liquid up and out of the bottle. Due to the small amount of caffeine in a 2l bottle of Diet Coke, we do not agree that the caffeine in Diet Coke contributes significantly to the reaction. 1(d) is a magnified view of the top of a salt grain. Diet Coke Because Type IV nucleation sites (such as found on Mentos) allow the reaction to proceed with substantially lower activation energy, Mentos candies can appropriately be considered a catalyst of the process. The measured contact angles and minimum works for bubble formation are given in Table IV. Is there another way for the carbon dioxide to escape? Now, its time to run away. Teachers threaded the roll of Wintergreen LifeSavers onto a pipe cleaner as an easy way to drop all of the LifeSavers into the soda at the same time. With everything you need to set up your own science lab anywhere, the Amazing Scientist Chemistry Kit is a fantastic introduction to the world of science. What happens if you combine soda and Mentos? To ensure accurate distance measurements and to extract other useful information, a video was made of the reactions, and marker flags were placed every half foot on the level ground, up to a distance of 25ft away from the bottle stand. [16] In October 2010, a Guinness World Record of 2,865 simultaneous geysers was set at an event organized by Perfetti Van Melle at the SM Mall of Asia Complex, in Manila, Philippines. This work was supported in part by the College of Arts and Sciences at Appalachian State University, the Petroleum Research Fund, Grant No PRF# 44936-GB5, and an NC Space Grant, New Investigations Award. These growth sites are not all on the surface of the bead, and hence the Diet Coke has to soak into the bead through the pores. The color combined with the small size of the salt grains made it too difficult to see, and therefore difficult to determine the time of fall for the table salt. Test your dog's preferred diet in this fun experiment. This will count as your control group. If we assume that LV is similar for Diet Coke and Caffeine Free Diet Coke, then the work required for bubble formation for Diet Coke is 90% of the work required for bubble formation for Caffeine Free Diet Coke. Now remove the index card and let candies fall in and step away from the Mentos and coke volcano. This in turns means that the carbon dioxide gas is more rapidly released. This is what happens when you combine 200 liters of Diet Coke and over 500 Mentos mints! Note that the contact angles for Diet Coke and Caffeine Free Diet Coke are not very different. Youll need a thermometer to record the temperature of the soda just before you launch it so that your data are accurate. The uncertainties are approximately 10%. They cited the gum arabic and gelatin in the Mentos, and the caffeine, potassium benzoate, and aspartame in Diet Coke as the main contributors to the explosive reaction. [20] In some cases, dissolved solids that increase the surface tension of water (such as sugars) also increase fountain heights. A two-liter bottle of diet soda (diet soda makes for a much better reaction, but you can use regular soda if you like. It is the classic Diet Coke and Mentos "geyser" experiment, but with the added rigor of using the scientific method to answer the question "Which will cause a larger reaction: the sugar in regular Coke or the aspartame in Diet Coke?" Which is the best 150 Ah inverter battery? Conclusion: The Diet Coke reacted to the Mentos, which means the hypothesis was correct. [10] As another example, dropping grains of salt or sand into the solution provides Type IV nucleation sites, lowers the activation energy compared to that of homogeneous nucleation, and increases the rate of carbon dioxide degassing. WebFun Science Experiments // Mentos and Coke / Soda ExperimentIncludes BOTH US size and Australian A4 sized files/spelling!This fun experiment explores the physical reaction Does the amount of Mentos affect the height of the explosion? The Diet Coke and Mentos experiment results from the nucleation of carbon dioxide from liquid to gas. Sticking a finger into a glass of soda will result in the formation of tiny bubbles full of carbon dioxide that stick to the skin. Gruber, B. In fact, its not really a reaction at all or at least its a physical reaction rather than a chemical one. Repeat the same procedure for the bottle of soda at room temperature and then again for the bottle of warm soda. . Each bottle will receive a different number of Mentos. Oddly enough, this container was actually a pre-form or 2-liter soda bottle before it was blown up into a big bottle. Science teachers found that Mentos candies had the same effect when dropped into a bottle of any carbonated soft drink. Hence it is the combination of a rough surface and the surfactant in the outer coating of the candy that causes the impressive reactions. The enthusiasm for dropping mints into soda bottles continues to grow today. A more dramatic effect is the rate of the reaction. Drop one Mentos candy into the first bottle and record the height by counting the wet bricks or by using your own scale. Mentos Geyser Experiment Mentos & Coke Experiment. . The Mentos mints then dropped into the soda. The goal of this project is to explore the eruption of carbon dioxide when the candy Mentos dissolves in Diet Coke. In this experiment, you will evaluate whether or not a diet that is supplemented with "brain-enhancing" foods can help improve memory. Carbon dioxide is the chemical compound that consists of two oxygen atoms bonded to a carbon atom. However, the larger rock salt pellets fall quickly to the bottom of the 2l bottle, while the much smaller table salt grains fall more slowly due to their smaller weight and size. The other bottles were heated in a water bath on a hot plate for approximately 1020min. Using any more than seven Mentos mints is just a waste, according to these soda-soaked science enthusiasts. The candies catalyze the release of gas from the beverage, which creates an eruption that pushes most of the liquid up and out of the bottle.[1][2]. Dont miss our other super-fun and hands-on experiments in our huge online experiment library! The scientific method is an important way scientists make observations and come to conclusions. Make sure the candies are in line with the mouth of the bottle. A large fountain of coke then comes rushing out, oftentimes multiple metres in the air, causing a sticky mess all over the place. It truly is the perfect chemistry kit for kids who want to explore. Record the temperature. If you decide to do this experiment against a wall, be sure to thank the buildings owner and to hose off the wall of the building when you are finished. When the candy hits the bottom of the bottle, the gas is released and pushes the soda from the bottle up in the air in an amazing eruption! The reaction happens fast, so dont have your face over the bottle. The video was titled Extreme Diet Coke & Mentos Experiments. EepyBird.com Entertainment for the Curious Mind. Diet Coke and Coke Zero react better with Mentos than regular Coke does because of the absence of sugar. Today Room 1 and 5 did a science experiment together. Parts of science investigatory project. Science Investigatory Although mentos look smooth, they are in fact covered with layers upon layers of bumps and rough edges, making them filled with nucleation sites. The beloved coke and mentos experiment is a perfect opportunity for young children interested in science to learn about the basics of acid and base reactions. Why does Diet Coke and Mentos explode more than regular Coke? The biggest challenge in the Mentos Geyser Experiment is finding a consistent way to drop the Mentos into the soda every time. A 10% difference is comparable to the uncertainty in our experiments, and hence it is difficult to observe significant differences in the results for Diet Coke compared to Caffeine Free Diet Coke. Retrieved from https://easyscienceforkids.com/diet-coke-and-mentos-video-for-kids/. [10] When the pressure is released from a soda bottle upon opening it, dissolved carbon dioxide can escape into any tiny bubble located within the beverage. It truly is the perfect chemistry kit for kids who want to explore. The bottom line was that we needed to find a way to standardize the drop of those Mentos mints. Stack the Mentos candies (approx. This high school science fair project investigates if small changes in your diet alter the pH of your saliva. The pH of the Diet Coke after the baking soda reaction was 6.1, indicating that much of the acid present in the Diet Coke was neutralized by the reaction. The lower magnification images show large surface areas and small volumes, especially when compared to samples such as a Mentos, which is 12cm in diameter. The independent variable was the altering of each Mento. Contact mode AFM image of Mint Mentos. WebKids TV Yenu and Sanu is home to gaining knowledge & entertain toddlers. However, you wont get the same effect from eating Mentos after drinking Coke. How does generic soda stack up against the name brands? Rough candy 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. Be prepared: the eruption happens quickly, so back up fast! Some people fashioned a tube out of paper; others used a piece of plastic tubing to load the Mentos. However, scientists are finding that theres more to this spectacular demonstration than meets the eye. It is very high for bubbles that form in the liquid itself (homogeneous nucleation), and much lower if bubble growth occurs within tiny bubbles trapped in some other surface (heterogeneous nucleation). The kit comes with the essential materials youll need to conduct 6 experiments, take-it-further activities and challenges for 1 4 children per kit. The temperature was 52 F. In this experiment, mentos caused a eruption in a 2-liter bottle of Diet Mountain Dew erupted, thus we concluded that diet Mountain Dew Quantitative Observation Remember, when youre doing an experiment, you can only change one variable. American Journal of Physics 1 June 2008; 76 (6): 551557. Thank you so much. This made the diameter of the candy too large to fit into the mouth of the soda bottle. When the gum arabic was injected at the bottom of the bottle, 100g of mass was lost. The longer reaction time is due to the many growth sites associated with the porous molecular sieve beads. Finally, we have shown that hotter beverages result in a more explosive reaction. What effect does temperature have on the height of the geyser? As long as there is a high surface area to volume ratio, that area can be classified as a nucleation site (Grobe & Voltz, n.d.). WebKids TV Yenu and Sanu is home to gaining knowledge & entertain toddlers. A one gallon bucket containing test tubes of over 10 Spangler Labs originals, Features favorites like Insta-Snow, Energy Beads, Jelly Marbles, & Magic Sand. View the Mentos Geyser Experiment here! Contact angles of various solutions on polycarbonate and the ratio of the minimum work required to form a critical bubble in the sample over the minimum work required to form a critical bubble in deionized H2O. The only variable youll change in this test is the brand of soda; everything else will remain the same. As the liquid is heated, the gas within that liquid is also heated, causing the gas molecules to move faster and faster. This increase moves the system away from the equilibrium condition for that molar concentration of the gas. Place the second bottle in a place where it will reach room temperature overnight. Cover the opening of the test tube with an index card or similar slim, small paper. Diet Coke and Mentos It doesnt matter what your variable is, it just has to be one concrete thing that you can change. From after-school activities and science classroom activities to STEM club experiments, our website is one of the most trusted resources for fun, age-appropriate experiments for kids of all ages. Metastable Liquids: Concepts and Principles. Write down what you think will happen when placing the Mentos in the soda. If youre not using the Geyser Tube, make sure to come up with your own method for dropping the Mentos into the soda exactly the same way each and every time. Mentos and Diet Coke eruption Leata @ Pt England School Mentos Lab Report - Google Docs How does the flavor of Mentos affect the explosion? ERIC - EJ1240905 - Kinetic Modeling of and Effect of Candy This study began as a project for physics majors enrolled in a sophomore level physics lab course. This low temperature allows the maximum amount of carbon dioxide to dissolve into the soda, keeping the carbonation levels as high as possible. Measure the height of the geyser by counting the number of bricks that are wet once the geyser stops. This chemistry science kit includes activities for solo and group experiments, making it a fantastic addition to your classroom or for fun at home. Also, for the same amount of mass lost, the eruption will be more dramatic when the reaction takes place over a shorter time. Depending upon the number of Mentos dropped into the bottle, the spray height can vary between a few inches and tens of feet. 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. The Diet Coke and Mentos reaction is a popular experiment or demonstration in part because it inspires students to wonder, and inquiry-driven labs and active-learning demonstrations on this reaction have been implemented. Most importantly, the author would like to thank the students of PHY2210 for their hard work and great ideas, including Will Beuttell, Jason Burch, Blake Clark, Robert Duke, Jama Greene, A.J. http://www.eepybird.com/featured-video/coke-and-mentos-featured-video/science-of-coke-mentos/. I must admit, however, that even with the Baby Soda Bottle method, the results were not very consistent. Quantitative surface roughness measurements were made with a Digital Instruments contact mode atomic force microscope (AFM) with Nanoscope III control electronics and a J type scanner with a 24m z range. These claims are also supported by data from the liquid gum arabic trials. If you decide to create an account with us in the future, you will need to enable cookies before doing so. Better yet, if we could trigger the drop of the Mentos from a distance, we wouldnt get as wet. https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn14114-science-of-mentos-diet-coke-explosions-explained/. What is the dependent variable of Coke and Mentos? Before you get started, youll need to find a location suitable for the experiment. The average times were 0.7s for the Mentos, 1.0s for the rock salt and the Lifesavers, and 1.5s for the sand. The results for the trials with varying temperature are given in Table III. Soda geyser - Wikipedia Search for other works by this author on: Mentos and the scientific method: A sweet combination. Place the index card and candies over the mouth of the bottle. So, if you want some quick and easy fun, get some paper towels becausewere about to make a sweet mess. Within seconds of dropping the candies into the soda, a huge geyser would erupt from the bottle. No matter which brand of soda you tested, the warm bottle probably produced the highest shooting geyser. Does warm Diet Coke create a greater geyser explosion than cold Diet Coke does? Parts of science investigatory project. Science Investigatory We put 4 mentos pieces into the bottle of diet coke. Remember that 1 liter is equivalent to 1000 milliliters. [3] Steve Spangler's televised demonstration of the eruption in 2005 became popular on YouTube,[4][5][6] launching a chain of several other Diet Coke and Mentos experiment viral videos. The warmer the liquid, thelessgas can be dissolved in that liquid. Part of the scientific method is making a prediction called a hypothesis. From our results in Tables I and II we see that the rock salt performance far exceeds the table salt performance, even though the surface area to volume ratio (and hence the number of bubble growth sites per gram) is larger for the table salt. Figure 1(a) qualitatively demonstrates that the small cubic table salt grains have a high surface area to volume ratio, thus providing many growth sites for the carbon dioxide in the Diet Coke. To use the Mentos Geyser for a science fair project, youll to turn this cool science activity into a real science experiment. What is the conclusion of Mentos and Coke experiment? To make any of these tests meaningful, youll need to find a way to measure the height of the eruption. As the Mentos candy sinks in the bottle, the candy causes the production of more and more carbon dioxide bubbles, and the rising bubbles react with carbon dioxide that is still dissolved in the soda to cause more carbon dioxide to be freed and create even more bubbles, resulting in the eruption. In colder liquids, the gas molecules move very slowly, causing them to diffuse out of the solution much more slowly, leaving more gas in the solution. We knew the Mentos Geyser Experiment was a popular experiment when a producer from ABCs Who Wants to Be a Millionaire called for help when writing a question. The participant got it right for $8,000, saying: I saw it on TV, and I bought Mentos and a 2-liter bottle of Diet Coke. By the end of the 1990s, however, the manufacturer of Wintergreen LifeSavers increased the size of the mints (no one was ever certain why). Did a child really die from combining Mentos and Coca-Cola? Native American Teepees, Longhouses, Pueblos, Nebraska State History US History Facts, Becoming a US Citizen US Government Facts, 12 Michael Jackson Facts For Kids 2023 [Must Read], Mood in Literature (Definition, Examples & Case Studies) 2023, Antithesis Examples, Definition, Usage, and Popular instances. Set up three tests: warm soda, room temperature soda and cold soda. We found that the Diet CokeMint Mentos reaction lasted 3.8s, the Diet CokeFruit Mentos reaction lasted 3.6s, and the Diet CokeWint-o-Green reaction lasted 4.9s. 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. This makes the cleanup process after the experiment easier, and less gross, as nobody would want to be all covered in sugary goop, especially on a hot summer day! What do your results reveal about the effect that the number of Mentos has on the height of the geyser? What is inside Mentos and Cola that reacts with each other causing the eruption? [Full Guide] - Cool Mentos and Diet Coke Experiment. Sample morphology was determined by imaging the samples in an environmental scanning electron microscope (SEM).4 The uncoated samples were imaged in low vacuum mode. This is a great topic for a science project. The seltzer water and tonic water trials were 1l bottles with 16g of Mint Mentos added; all other trials were 30g of solid material added to a 2l bottle of liquid. Why Do Flight Attendants Hate Serving This Drink to Passengers in Flight? The bubbles then act as growth sites, where the carbon dioxide still dissolved in the solution moves into the rising bubbles, causing even more liberation of carbon dioxide from the bottle. The Amazing Scientist Chemistry Kit is designed to get your young scientist interested in chemistry. Science teachers found that Mentos candies had the same effect when dropped into a bottle of any carbonated soft drink. The Diet Coke and Mentos reaction was the subject of a 2006 Mythbusters episode1 and first shown in 1999 on the David Letterman Show, and has become a popular in-class physics and chemistry demonstration from elementary school to college level classes. The reaction has been performed numerous times on television and the Internet, but has not been systematically studied. These calculations are approximate, but are consistent with our results reported in Tables I and II. This was the original inspiration behind the Geyser Tube. Do they make motorcycle helmets for kids? What is the independent variable in the Mentos experiment? Line up a row of 10 soda bottles against a brick wall. If the partial pressure of the gas above the liquid is higher, then more gas can be dissolved in the liquid. Can I use clear bottom plates for fluorescence? The goal of this project is to explore the eruption of carbon dioxide when the candy Mentos dissolves in Diet Coke. The goal is to drop all seven Mentos into the bottle of soda at the same time, which is trickier than you might think. ), A tube the width of the Mentos. A search on Google for Diet Coke and Mentos will return millions of hits, and YouTube has many home videos of this reaction. Observe each eruption, recording the details and compare the results. Load seven Mentos into your paper roll or yourGeyser Tubeand drop them into the soda and immediately record the data. What happens when you drop Mentos in a bottle of coke? half a roll) in the test tube. The dependent variable is the the Diet Coke with the mentos because it depends on the mentos to have a chemical response. The Diet Coke and Mentos reaction is a popular experiment or demonstration in part because it inspires students to wonder, and inquiry-driven labs and active-learning demonstrations on this reaction have been implemented.3 I recently led a large group of undergraduate physics students in a cooperative research project to answer some of the debate on this reaction. What female country singers were on American Idol? The scale bars represent the following lengths: (a) 2.0mm; (b) 100m, (c) 50m, and (d) 20m. Dont forget to look back at the amazing eruption of soda. Youve probably heard that you shouldnt eat Mentos while you drink Coke, but why is that? 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. Regular soda becomes a sticky mess because it contains sugar, while diet soda uses artificial sweeteners instead of sugar, so its not as sticky. Its also important that all of the test bottles are stored in the same place so that the liquid in each bottle is the same temperature. The first Coke and Mentos Experiment was conducted on the Late Show with David Letterman in 1999 by The Mareks Kid Scientists. The answer is a little more complicated than you might think. but highly recommended! Mentos The places where the bubbles form are the nucleation sites. Beware of the 20-foot stream of soda that will erupt when you pull off this experiment.