The result is a towering geyser of foam. Co-author Thomas S. Kuntzleman first encountered the experiment at an elementary school science fair in , and he has been interested in the underlying physics and chemistry ever since. For instance, he has found that various beverage additives such as sugars, citric acid, and natural flavors can enhance fountain heights. Most recently, he decided to test the hypothesis that the intensity of the fountain effect would be greater at higher altitudes, since one would expect atmospheric pressure to play a significant role in bubble nucleation.
Kuntzleman and his co-author, Ryan Johnson, purchased bottles of Diet Coke from the same store and made sure the bottles all had the same expiration date. For each experiment, they dropped a single Mentos candy into a bottle via a one-inch PVC pipe and then watched the reaction work its magic.
The measurements were all taken within one week of each other, and the team made sure to keep all the bottles at roughly the same temperature. One set of experiments was performed at different altitudes during a climb of Pikes Peak; another set took place during a drive across North Carolina; and a third set of experiments was performed during Kuntzleman's family vacation, driving through multiple national parks in California, Nevada, and Utah.
All told, they performed the experiment at altitudes ranging from below sea level Death Valley, California to more than 14, feet Pikes Peak. As expected, they found that more foam was produced at higher elevations.
However, the impact of altitude is not due entirely to a simple application of well-known gas laws, according to the authors—namely, that gases expand in lower atmospheric pressures.
SV: No current plans. Our latest thinking is possibly Coke and Mentos in space. I think it needs to happen. PS: Can you give us a sneak peek of what to expect? FG: Not yet. PS: Would you continue to do this for another 10 years? FG: We figured this was going to be about 15 seconds of internet fame, dropping Mentos into bottles of Coke.
Now, here we are at Maker Faire 10 years later, and we would love to keep doing this for as long as possible. Thou shall not reuse your login information With over delicate trigger mechanisms linked together to make one giant chain reaction, everything had to be checked and double-checked.
At 2 AM the night before, we were literally cutting pieces of wood to fix a potential problem in the stair-climbing mechanism. After six hours of setting up all the bottles that morning, it was very hot — so hot that the soda was fizzing and evaporating up onto the Mentos, making them sticky. We discovered this as we did the final check of all the triggers, and we had to face the possibility that after all this work, the Mentos might just stick to the nozzles and nothing would work.
We crossed our fingers and pulled the first pin. And, once again, all our hard work payed off: it worked! At the end of that crazy first year, we got some amazing honors, including being nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Broadband — Variety. We saw Oscar the Grouch and Elmo at the ceremony, which was one of our most star-struck moments.
For that, we got to perform live on the sidewalk on Wall Street for all the people in their fancy clothes. We did our best not to get them soaking wet. One of the most important parts of these events, and of all our experiments, is to be responsible and make sure we recycle all the bottles we use. After all these experiments, we may be close to setting a world record for recycling!
We really appreciate all of you coming to EepyBird. So thanks for watching! Search for:. Try This at Home! The crushed Mentos candies, however, are not as dense as the whole ones, which causes them to sink more slowly, creating a relatively small cola fountain, which should also leave more liquid in the bottle than the larger eruption with whole Mentos candies did. Cleanup Hose off any part of a building that was splashed with Diet Coke.
If you try this project with regular Coke, the eruption should still happen but its sugary content may make cleaning more difficult. This activity brought to you in partnership with Science Buddies. Already a subscriber?
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