Food Fun: Mentos and Diet Coke Geyser

Hello Fellow Nom Seekers!

Introducing our Food Fun posts.  Food Fun is about doing fun things with common fun stuff you may find in your pantry or local supermarket with the aim of proving food can be fun even though you may not necessarily be nomming it.  For our inaugural Food Fun post, I would like give the infamous Mentos and Diet Coke Geyser trick a whirl. 

Recently Bubbachuck has been obsessively watching Wreck It Ralph.  When she decides to like a movie, we end up having to sit through it on loop.  This was where I was first introduced to the possibility that a chemical reaction occurs when a mentos is introduced to a bottle of diet coke.  One of the characters, Vanelope lives beside an underground lake filled with diet coke and mentos stalactites.  After googling this to ascertain whether it was a bit of make belief in a children's movie or whether it is a hard scientific fact, I came across this YouTube clip by the Mythbusters which explains all the science behind this phenomenon.  So essentially a chemical reaction occurs between carbonated drinks and mentos candy producing an eruption of sorts.  The porous surface of the mentos catalyses the release of carbon dioxide resulting in massive amounts of foaming. 


In the spirit of exposing my 7 year old to the wonders of science and to the dangers of a chemical explosion, I thought why not replicate this for a bit of fun at home?!  Here is a clip of our attempt.  It did not foam up in the explosive way that I had envisaged.  I'm suspecting the makers of mentos may have altered their formulation since news of this phenomenon broke.  I'm having visions of litigious parents following an explosive children's party.  I should add that Bubbachuck and I conducted this experiment in the rain as we were that excited that we couldn't wait until the rain stopped.  I don't think the rain would have affected our results too much. 

I also read on trusty Wikipedia that rock salt accelerates the reaction.  So here I am adding fuel to the fizzling fire. 

A bit of fun for young and old. 

Until next time,
Nom Seeker, Glutt.