Coca-Cola is a carbonated beverage that is full of dissolved carbon dioxide. Imagine a glass that's being filled with water a single drop at a time. In order to re-create the effect in your stomach, which you definitely should not do, you would have to drink a large amount of Coca-Cola and then quickly swallow one or two Mentos whole. The rest of the process happens thanks to the physical properties of Mentos. And while Snopes long ago debunked the rumor that eating Mentos and drinking Diet Coke can kill you, exercising caution when attempting to mix these two products together is recommended. Thats why you feel bloated and your burp. Another factor is that the coatings of Mentos contain gum arabic, a surfactant that further reduces surface tension in the liquid. The soda is saturated with carbon dioxide that is looking for a way to escape. A study reveals why Mentos and Coke can be a dangerous combination. Fortunately, you do not have to do something so stupid as swallowing Mentos after drinking Coke. You could use a dry mixture of two powders which generate carbon dioxide when they dissolve in water. But why is it called the "Diet Coke and Mentos Experiment" and not the "Coke and Mentos Experiment?" Your membership is the foundation of our sustainability and resilience. The students' goal is to get the highest possible geyser. The formation of carbon dioxide bubbles is like a chain reaction that exponentially accumulates, causing pressure to build in a fraction of a second. This spectacle is mainly caused by a physical reaction that rapidly releases the dissolved carbon dioxide from the beverage. First you need a 2 liter of diet coke and 2-3 packs of mentos. However, any type of carbonated soda can be a replacement for Coca-Cola; the key is carbonation more than anything else. a popular reaction:. 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. 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. Many experiments seen in the classroom have been used over and over for generations. Just getting the Mentos into your stomach will likely disrupt some of the surface. But i think nucleation sites are the way to go, not an actual chemical reaction. They covered this on Mythbusters. Try to keep as much of the co2 in the coke ie not shaking it. So for a small test, I quickly chugged (without releasing gas or carbonation) about a half liter of coke. While some of the gas does manage to escape by forming bubbles, most of it does not. I did this all in less than a minute. What is the science behind Mentos and Coke eruptions? A Mentos dropped into a bottle of soda acts as a surfactant, meaning it reduces the surface tension of the soda. Hold Bottle by top with one hand place around the neck so that the bottle is upside down. While we cant really know what kind of damage this kid may have done to his stomach, the results were fairly predictable. in action:. 2. Mentos ingredients also help this reaction to some extent. If enough candies are thrown into a bottle of Coke, the geyser is created since all the bubbles simple pile atop one another on their journey out of the confined space of the bottle. She has a Master's Degree in Cellular and Molecular Physiology from Tufts Medical School and a Master's of Teaching from Simmons College. Likewise, with regard to "One year before the same accident happened with another boy in Brazil," once again the news is silent regarding such a death. Put the open end of your tube of Mentos on the card and place it directly over the opening of the soda bottle. The Diet Coke and Mentos experiments turn a sugar-free cola beverage and chewy candies into a geyser. To liberate five litres, i.e. He kept drinking the Coke over time, and gas continued to be released in a more steady manner than would occur if Mentos were dropped into a bottle. The 6"5 Beachball, Helium balloon, heck whatever is here! but i have seen videos of it on youtube? Slowly and carefully open a new bottle of Diet Coke. A pigs stomach is, by the way, a very good match for a human stomach. This is where the carbon dioxide in the pop goes to the mentos (EpyBird.com), and create a bubbly stream that had so much pressure it shoots out of the container. I would definitely recommend Study.com to my colleagues. If you have health and safety related questions, visitHSE.gov.uk. Enrolling in a course lets you earn progress by passing quizzes and exams. The place i normally order it from has been most unreliable lately, hence the halt in the "research". Copyright 2023 @ Sodoapopcraft.com Watson-Publishing Limited Co. Telephone: +441414590217 Email: [emailprotected]. Many people speculated that the geyser was the result of an acid base reaction, given the low pH of soda. "These ingredients reduce the work required for bubble formation, allowing carbon dioxide to rapidly escape from the soda,"Coffey and her students found, after comparing the "contact angle for aspartame and water in contrast to pure water or sugar water.". This rate is increased because the texture and density of mentos allow bubbles to form quickly, which in turn forms more bubbles. Doesn't work. Then. Videos of those who have attempted such foolishness consistently show the subjects experiencing great physical distress in the aftermath of their ill-judged stunts. 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. The result is a massive eruption of foam, shooting stories high into the air. But i think nucleation sites are the way to go, not an actual chemical reaction. 1995 - 2023 by Snopes Media Group Inc. Density is how much mass is in a given volume. But, any carbonated beverage works. 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. Theories abound as to why this happens, with some bloggers speculating that it is an acid-base reaction because Coke is acidic. Next, secure a bottle of diet cola to the ground and remove the lid. A study in the US has identified the prime factors that drive the fizzy plumes from Coke bottles: the roughness of the sweet and how fast it plummets to the bottle's base. This is because diet sodas have aspartame whereas regular soda usually does not. This effect can be maximized to a certain extent by adding a few Mentos candies to a given soda bottle, although there is a breaking point where adding more candies doesnt make the geyser any more impressive. Try a new bottle of Diet Coke and a new package of Mentos. The Diet Coke and Mentos experiment results from an increased rate of nucleation. Mentos candies typically have gum Arabic and gelatin in their formulas. The Coke-Mentos experiment is one of the most popular science experiments and also one of the most well-known. Now, make a Mentos-and-soda fountain! also, i had to lay down to hold in the gas. When i inflate using pumps, Plavini and the like, i manage up to thirty litres equivalent at atmospheric pressure. 4. 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. There's a plastic layer with holes in. Youll suddenly experience an upsurge of soda foam and will likely burp or vomit up large amounts of the stuff in seconds. This alert about an unnamed child in Brazil's sorry fate began circulating on the Internet in November 2006. Instead it is a physical reaction. When soda is made, manufacturers oversaturate a liquid drink with gaseous carbon dioxide. Ok, so i was wonderin about coke and mentos inflation. Was Coca Cola the only Soft Drink to Contain Cocaine? However, the practical applications of this reaction are limited by the sticky mess it makes. *Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc, or its affiliates. You can also increase the effect by adding extra ingredients to a given soda. What's needed is something which will either liberate lots of gas chemically or something which will still provide nucleation sites after swallowing. -which do I consume first? Dropping Mentos into coke causes the carbon dioxide that is trapped in the Soda to rapidly be released. do with the outside." 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). What Chemical In Mentos Makes Coca-Cola Explode? The two biggest factors affecting the geyser are the roughness of the candy used and the rate at which it sinks to the bottom of the soda bottle. You can't swallow them whole and the saliva is going to soften and dissolve the irregularities. The answer to this involves a property called surface tension. 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. Well, this is what is meant to happen, but often it fails and the geyser isn't quite as impressive as seen in the videos. Diet Coke has an artificial sugar called aspartame that reduces its surface tension capabilities. "Middle-school teachers are getting their students out onto the baseball field next to their school and doing this reaction, and their students love it," says Coffey. Numerous video clips of "Mentos eruptions" exist on the Internet; one needn't search all that diligently to stumble across scads of them. copyright 2003-2023 Study.com. Their explanation is this process called nucleation. However, none of the ingredients in mentos are basic, and the experiment works to some degree with any type of soda and any type of candy. ", As it sinks, the Mentos produces more bubbles, which react with carbon dioxide in the soda, rewarding you with a Diet Coke geyser. when you drink Soda, the contents of the stomach (stomach acid, food, etc.) 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. Cans Of Bernard Dehydrated Water: What in the World is This? Its not only the surfaces of the Mentos that react with Coca-Cola. When the pressure is released, the carbon dioxide is forced out of solution and makes little gas bubbles. The chemical reactions involved in dropping mentos candies into a bottle of diet coke make quite the spectacle! Diet Coke and Mentos - . Its not recommended to do this, even for a party trick, but youll survive with only your pride wounded overall. 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. Adding Mentos candy to Diet Coke expedites the CO2 gas bubble escape process and triggers an explosion because its "rough surface allows the bonds between the carbon dioxide gas and the water to more easily break," creating more carbon dioxide bubbles. People will do anything for YouTube views, so you can watch a dimwit do this experiment here. * Fizzy water and gum tragacanth. A study in the US has identified the prime factors that drive the fizzy plumes from Coke bottles: the roughness of the sweet and how fast it plummets to the bottle's base. 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 original ingredients of Coca-Cola contained cocaine from coca leaves and caffeine-rich extracts from kola nuts. This will help you get them all in at once before the eruption happens. All content 2019 by Eric Troy and CulinaryLore. Abstract and Figures. The Mentos' surface area is conducive to carbon dioxide nucleation from the solution. "It's a great way to get students excited about science and learn something new. What Happens When You Mix Coke With Mentos? Or actually I can say whenever I buy a coke/pepsi I ask for a roll of mentos from the seller. Additionally, the stomach has a couple ways of expelling excess gases. When combining Diet Coke and Mentos, one would get a physical reaction. However, your stomach is not enough of a seal to keep this sudden pressure change contained inside. I then quickly swallowed whole 3 mint mentos, using a small ammount of water to chase them down quickly. 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. Place it on a flat area outside where it is OK to get wet with soda. Gas becomes much less soluble in warmer environments; cold soda stifles the gas creation effect and will make your geyser weaker. Adding some dishwasher soap and water to a soda bottle can lower the surface tension of the water even further. In order for more carbon dioxide bubbles to be created, the bonds with the ambient water in the soda have to be broken. Diet Coke is just more carbonated. Mentos are denser than Diet Coke. One reason is their large surfacetovolume ratio, which allows millions of bubbles to form from each piece. Answer (1 of 43): I use to consume these both simultaneously. I'm probably being pessimistic about it. They are so small you cant even see them, but they number in the thousands, at least. Finally, making your soda bottle warmer instead of colder will make the geyser higher and faster. Here's what they found. Carbon dioxide is the force that pushes the liquid out of the bottle in a fraction of a second. Whats up people. This way, you can see which one erupts higher. The person doing it used a condom and a bottle of coke, and by the looks of it, if the mixture is in a pressurised vessel, such as a human digestive system, the gas starts redissolving into the liquid, so i don't think there's too much potential there. Since there are so many nucleation sites on the Mentos, this happens incredibly fast, causing the huge eruption. New user? They are a pain in the ass to make, though. Still not quite getting it? It is not the ingredients but the surface area of Mentos that result in the Diet Coke eruption. It's true that most of the people that do it do indeed inflate from simply having that much soda in them, but if you can hold the gas down I don't think there's anything stopping you from inflating. Measurements of the pH of the Coke before and after the experiments showed that its acidity did not change, ruling out the idea that a simple acid-base reaction drives the fountains. It is best to use the regular Mentos without extra coatings. What Is The Chemical Structure Of Coca-Cola? Almost everyone in middle school or high school has heard the urban legend: if you drink Coke and eat Mentos, youll explode! The last step is to stand back quickly and enjoy the spectacular reaction. It doesn't matter if the liquid contains sugar or not. Now that this YouTuber has done us all a favor and performed this experiment, you do not have to. Carefully open the cap of the bottle of Coke. Here's What Really Causes Diet Coke And Mentos To React. It works fine, the coke fizzes because of the cracks in the mentos, not the chemical makeup. Don't worry, legitimate scientists have actually studied this thing. Theories abound as to why this happens, with some bloggers speculating that it is an acid-base reaction because Coke is acidic. It's not dangerous as it's used in toothpaste. Already have an account? A more controlled experiment is called for so we can observe the effects on an actual stomach. Surface tension allows a cup to be filled with water past its brim. These microscopic irregularities on the Mentos surface serve as nucleation sites where carbon dioxide bubbles form. Course, it could be just the soda inflating me. I only managed about 2 litres of gas like this. So, any rough surface inside the bottle will cause the carbon dioxide molecules to cluster together in a process called nucleation, which forms bubbles. The Mentos and Coke trick usually gets performed with diet cola. Next topic: Old 3 part inflation story. Each bottle tested had a two-litre capacity, and eleven Mentos were introduced to each bottle. Gotta do it fast, though. half a roll) in the test tube. Don't worry, legitimate scientists have actually studied this thing. For all the liquid to leave through the opening, the upstream pressure then also has to increase, redirecting the flow of the Coke upwards and you know the rest: explosion. Are There Any Long-Term Health Risks Eating Mentos & Soda? Diet Coke, a sugar-free cola beverage, and Mentos, a chewy round candy, are combined to generate a Diet Coke and Mentos eruption. What could you do to make your eruption bigger? Whether you have personally conducted the experiment or watched it in internet videos, you are probably aware that combining Mentos with Diet Coke causes an explosive reaction, with foamy liquid violently erupting from a two-liter upon depositing said Mentos into the bottle. This pre-release of the gas prevents much of the dramatic release of the gas caused by the Mentos. If drops are continually added, this bubble will grow and continually burst, spilling water down the sides of the glass. Materials: 1 pkg. The rough surface of the candy creates friction where the heavier carbon dioxide molecules can sink and break away from their bonds with the water surrounding the. Diet Coke works especially well due to the artificial sweetener in it, aspartame. June 15, 2008 — -- The startling reaction between Diet Coke and Mentos sweets, made famous in thousands of YouTube videos, finally has a scientific explanation. These microscopic irregularities on the Mentos' surface serve as nucleation sites where carbon dioxide bubbles form. ", 24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events. First you need a 2 liter of diet coke and 2-3 packs of mentos. Ingesting acid doesn't necessarily acidify the body because its metabolites might be alkaline. 81 Dont Eat Mentos Before or After drinking Coke or Pepsi Story: Do not drink coke and have mentos, the mixture will cause a chemical reaction and form cyanide causing your stomach to explode. Combine Diet Coke and Mentos, and the result is explosiveDiet Coke shoots out of the bottle like a miniature, sticky Old Faithful. Mentos are dense candies, which aids the sinking process a factor the study explored by comparing reactions made with whole Mentos versus crushed ones, the latter of which resulted in weaker eruptions. One enterprising group made a mentos and diet coke-powered rocket. Because these molecules are thus less likely to hold onto each other, the solution is easier to disrupt. Like many, I'm a HUGE soda drinks fan and have an obsession with making, testing, and trying the myriad of flavors and brands from across the world. Theoretically speaking, any candy that has enough small pores like Mentos should be able to do this job. 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). The Diet Coke and Mentos experiment results from the nucleation of carbon dioxide from liquid to gas. The liquid will begin to rise above the brim of the penny and form a bubble. Creatine can be taken as a supplement to help improve athletic performance and increase muscle mass. The gum is similar to the stuff in mentos, gum Arabic, which releases gas from fizzy drinks even if added alone. Though the manuscript is behind a paywall, a presentation that Dr. Coffey made about the experience is available on the schools website. Speed and pressure are also important factors in the explosivity of Coke fountains. Diet soda stereotypically has a better reaction than regular soda. 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. Lower surface tension makes it easier for the bubbles to break out to the surface and attempt to escape. Im the owner and blogger here at SodaPopCraft.Com. The short answer is that eating Mentos by chewing them up while drinking Coca-Cola, or any other soda, will little to no effect. This year, I adapted my somewhat free-wheeling "wing it" approach to this experiment to instead have students research, test, and adapt as needed. 2. Mentos has thousands of tiny bumps over its surface even though the candy might look smooth to the naked eye. Only after the Mythbusters pumped a large amount of compressed air into the stomach did it finally burst, and it took a LOT of air. A video that has been around since 2006 and has been seen at least 20 million times purports to show the death of a girl nicknamed Pepsi Girl (not to be confused with the curly-haired little girl on old Pepsi commercials) meet her death after downing a 2-liter bottle of Pepsi cola when she explodes as if a bomb has been placed inside her. 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. Also, stand clear of the bottle after you add the Mentos. An experiment on Seltzer water, adding various types of solutes, produced the following results: Coca-Cola isnt a single chemical compound but rather a mixture of different chemicals. an experiment conducted by elizabeth snider for ede4304 october 9, 2006. diet coke and I've had a couple of thoughts about the swallowing problem. What will happen if we put Mentos in Coke? Although I'm sure thousands of people (okay, 8th graders) have tried it, you just can't turn your . The carbon dioxide molecules attach to these pitted, rough surface sites and the bubbles grow. This forces the liquid to overflow and shoot out. These chemicals are found in the shell itself as well as in the soda mixture, and they contribute to the formation of pressurised foam. The other thing that happened was that the gas came straight back up and made me belch huge clouds of powder. Try it at home and see how Diet Coke and Mentos react. Video Instruction. But the rough coating of the candy begins to dissolve the moment you eat it. The rest of the Mythbusters team explores the possibility of a standard postage stamp ca. It's every 8th grader's dream either you spew a volcano of soda or you explode. Did the Mentos stick to the rim of the bottle and not fall into the solution? A&W 1/3 Pound Burger Failure Fact Check: Are Americans Really That Bad at Fractions? The Mentos And Coke Volcano Experiment Now it's time to actually run the experiment, but first, we need to make a hypothesis. Bases are bitter and feel slippery to the touch. I'm Chris Watson, the chap that brings you Soda Pop Craft. this big guy just dropped another BOOMIN video so like it up. Example: [Collected on the Internet, 2006]. Mentos will result in the formation of a geyser in any carbonated liquid. Mentos candies are not as smooth as they appear to the naked eye. anyways no expanding tummy as of yet. Additionally, the stomach has a couple ways of expelling excess gases. It worked, but even quite small quantities seem to start messing up my internal environment and i got cramps and tingling. Mentos react with Diet Coke because their rough surfaces provide suitable sites for rapid growth of carbon dioxide bubbles, according to Mental Floss magazine. Then drink a little over half slowly in give or take 2 min. Take the geyser tube and put all the mentos in it from the packet. If you looked at it with a microscope, it would look pitted, just like a golf ball. I think the cracks in the mentos will disappear during consumption. This is because fruity Mentos have an extra coating of flavor which slows down the reaction time. It causes me no vomiting as well as no. 1. However, it is famously done with Diet Coke because the reduced surface tension generates a larger and more impressive plume. Making Lots of Bubbles. Pouring soda into a muddy hole in the ground does the same, so the Mentos are totally unnecessary. I pack, and 1-2 cans mountain dew. Diet Coke and Mentos - . You may want an adult to help you crush the Mentos candies. Still not quite getting it? [3]. I vaguely remember that episode. Coffey, T. You can expect a large eruption. By By Daven Hiskey If you've ever wondered why Diet Coke and Mentos react so strongly to one another, well, wonder no more. 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.

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