Mentos + Soda = Explosion

Status: True
image Given the urban legend about kids eating pop rocks and soda, and then having their stomachs explode, I wouldn't have believed that mixing Mentos and soda could cause such a violent reaction. But after watching the video posted on WLTX's website, I do. (You need Windows Media Player to view it, and I had to click the "Trouble Viewing" button to make it work.) To summarize what the video shows, three Mentos are dropped into a bottle of soda, causing a geyser of soda to shoot up about three or four feet high out of the bottle. This really makes me wonder what would happen if you drank a can of soda and then downed a pack of Mentos. Personally I'm not planning to find out. I'm sure it wouldn't kill you, but I imagine it would fizz up into your throat and nose. WLTX provides this scientific explanation for the phenomenon:

Mentos contains a chemical known as ARABIC GUM (this is the ingredient that makes the mint "chewy"). This ingredient causes the surface tension of the water molecules to break even more easily, releasing more carbon dioxide gas at an astounding rate! .....The gas causes pressure to rapidly build inside the bottle which thrusts the soda upwards in a wonderful fountain-like BLAST!

Food

Posted on Fri Sep 23, 2005


Comments

lol im doing this today in the park as a rocket and recording it for my website! nice
Posted by Unknown  on  Fri Aug 11, 2006  at  09:53 AM
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.
Posted by Lala  on  Sat Aug 26, 2006  at  08:30 AM
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!!! 😝
Posted by watrbnder  on  Sun Sep 17, 2006  at  06:37 PM
OMG!!! :grrr: in his eye and neck
i gotta be careful
im gonna do it soon
yay!
Posted by watrbnder  on  Sun Sep 17, 2006  at  06:40 PM
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
Posted by Micah  on  Mon Sep 18, 2006  at  08:50 AM
who wants to be my friend??? 😕
:(
Posted by Watrbnder  on  Mon Sep 18, 2006  at  05:40 PM
mentos are good!!!MMMMM
Posted by Watrbnder  on  Mon Sep 18, 2006  at  06:18 PM
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:
Posted by Watrbnder  on  Mon Sep 18, 2006  at  06:36 PM
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.
Posted by Unicorn man  on  Thu Sep 21, 2006  at  02:30 PM
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
Posted by sam  on  Wed Oct 11, 2006  at  05:31 PM
:lol: if you people are so smart then try to drink it after-words 🧛
Posted by Orange Juice  on  Tue Oct 17, 2006  at  12:49 PM
😏 i did... i dont think anyone should.
Posted by Llama Lover  on  Tue Oct 17, 2006  at  12:51 PM
Ok soooooooooooo this is awesome and i cant wait till i do this 4 a project wit my friend........Anyway is the whole Gum Arabic true cuz i need to know these things.........lol.......jk........hahahahahahaha :exclaim:
Posted by SAMMY  on  Fri Oct 20, 2006  at  01:53 PM
It's a combination of things. Mythbusters did this experiment and found that if you drop Mentos into carbonated water (with none of the other ingredients of Diet Coke), you only get a very small reaction. Three Diet coke ingredients, caffeine, aspartame, and sodium benzoate, each increase the reaction if added to the carbonated water.

They concluded that the irregular surface of the Mentos provided nucleation sites, although there was a serious flaw in their reasoning (they noted that a glazed candy with the same ingredients did not produce a reaction, but forgot to mention that only the glaze, and not the ingredients in the rest of the candy, would come into contact with the liquid).
Posted by Kari Byron's future husband  on  Mon Oct 23, 2006  at  02:40 PM
this experiment sounds fun and i cant wait to test it for my science fair project FUN FUN FUN!!!
Posted by brittanyyd  on  Sun Nov 05, 2006  at  06:05 PM
sweet, thats an awsome expieriment to try at school. im also planing to contruct a small bomb just for fun using the presure from pop and mentos.
Posted by mr. x  on  Fri Nov 10, 2006  at  08:19 AM
lol, this is so much fun to do.
rofl, its so awsome its awsome.
i think we need an Alpaka
whos with me?
its a type of llama
Posted by Stone  on  Mon Nov 27, 2006  at  03:51 AM
god the reason it fizzes so much is it sinks to the bottom of the bottle
Posted by smarterthenyou  on  Mon Dec 04, 2006  at  03:37 PM
heyy youuu your expieriment was really cool im amazed and im going to grow up and study this with my friend charlett we're going to be BIG scientists one day. Shes my bff(best friend forever)thank for your inspirations we love you!


BOB
Posted by bob and charlett  on  Fri Dec 15, 2006  at  08:33 AM
my dklasfj tried it and it died
Posted by sandy  on  Wed Jan 03, 2007  at  06:37 PM
Ummm, why do people keep saying that it works best with diet cola? The main ingredient for the reaction is simply the CO2 in the sugar-water.

Vernor's Gingerale has the most of any beverage that I have found.

However, other such ingredients as artificial-sweetener and welsewhat may help get the catalyst started. But the mentos thing will work with any carbonated beverage. The more carbonation = the higher the explosion, up to a point anyways.

My record with a 2L is 24 ft.
Posted by Victor  on  Sat Jan 06, 2007  at  02:51 PM
ok well first of all you should punch a hole in the top of the bottle lid. You can do this with a nail and hammer. (keep the nail that you used because you wil need it later). Buy some chewing gum and mentos. Then chew the chewing gum for a while just enough so that its all soft and sticky. Then stick it to the lid making sure that you cover the hole. Then stick your mentos to the chewing gum.(if you want to add more then 1 mentos put another layer of chewing gum on top of the mentos then apply another mentos etc.)then screw the lid back on carefully. and get your nail and push it through the hole carefully but quickly. then stand back fast and watch your diet coke and mentos fly! it should look like a rocket cross with a fountain.
Posted by Emmie  on  Wed Jan 10, 2007  at  11:31 AM
It's easier if you just stick a small magnet to the Mento. Then you can use a larger magnet to keep it up in the cap until you're ready to let it spray.
Posted by Charybdis  on  Wed Jan 10, 2007  at  11:43 AM
this site is awesome!! im gonna try this one my bro l8r cya
Posted by no one cares  on  Thu Jan 11, 2007  at  08:34 AM
well im doing my proect on this and well it got me wondering if this gum arabic resolution was true soo i decided to experiment with things that didnt have gum arabic in them (such as salt sugar and even pennies) and in resolution salt fizzed even miore then mentos! well could u please anser me and tell me wat makes mentos explode in cola
Posted by poopoo  on  Mon Jan 15, 2007  at  02:55 PM
mine went 2682968562682 feet into the air it was sooo kool you have no idea you guys all suck because mine is a world record yeah!
Posted by Lindsay Vella  on  Mon Jan 29, 2007  at  07:42 AM
heyy i belive that the "arabic gum" is the thingy that makes it explode and i know this because i tried it and im trying to get the stain off my roof from where the pop had hit lol
Posted by Whitneyy  on  Mon Jan 29, 2007  at  02:15 PM
wow amazing....................................not
Posted by ryker  on  Mon Jan 29, 2007  at  03:15 PM
i tried this and it works
Posted by vcbcvbcxb  on  Mon Feb 05, 2007  at  01:30 PM
Just put diet Coke into a glass with one Mentos...lots of fizzing, no explosion. Much like plop plop fizz fizz, for those of you who remember Alka-Seltzer commercials, or the fizzy Vitamin C pills doctors here give you if you have a cold. No explosion, not even a mess in my kitchen sink. I think that answers the shape of the bottle question. I can't believe it's dangerous enough to kill anyone.
Posted by Abu Dhabi  on  Thu Feb 08, 2007  at  08:48 PM
with all of you people saying that this expirement is fake and it's not what people claim... then what is it?? I'm doing it for a science expirement and it seems all the websites I've been to have people saying it's wonrg. I need to know.
And for all of you people who try eating Mentos and drinking soda it didn't do anything for a reason... You'd have to eat all the mentos at the same time... If not than nothing will happen.
Posted by Lacey  on  Fri Feb 09, 2007  at  07:08 PM
For all of the people who wonder why Diet Pepsi works better: It does'nt necessarily "work" better. I heard it's just easier to clean up at the end because it's less sticky.
And to all the people who keep saying nothing happened with 1 mentos: Well DUHH!!!! You need more than one montos. i heard 13 mentos and a 2-Liter bottle work the best
Posted by Lacey  on  Fri Feb 09, 2007  at  07:16 PM
We have tried it as a school science experiment and it was amazing to see the affect it had .You should try it , just remember not to drink it. Hehe....

Sam and Tam
South Africa
Penryn Collage
Posted by Sammy Hammond and Tamsin Ballantyne  on  Sat Feb 17, 2007  at  02:11 AM
yeah i remember doing it in my physical science class... Astonishingly, i was the only person in the class (besides the teacher, of course) who had previously done the experiment!!
Posted by Vic  on  Mon Feb 19, 2007  at  10:12 PM
well, this is a great reaction, but i don't believe that it has anything to do with the arabic gum, though i could be wrong. i've just always heard that it's because of the carbon dioxide. but i could be wrong, i mean sheesh im no scientist =]
Posted by shelby <3  on  Sat Feb 24, 2007  at  06:14 PM
well shelby there has to be something in the montos to create the explosion. u cant just open a bottle of soda and have it explode... it has something to do with the mentos. wether its gum arabic or not im not sure. but i assure u it's not just the carbon dioxide gas... that makes no sense.
Posted by Lacey  on  Sat Feb 24, 2007  at  06:54 PM
nice stuff, but it the nucleation sites nothin else
Posted by MEMO  on  Mon Feb 26, 2007  at  06:44 PM
how do u know?!?!?!?! u dont know everything!!!
and could you tell me how you came up with that solution? and how other people came up with the wrong ones?! For my science fair project
Posted by Lacey  on  Mon Feb 26, 2007  at  08:27 PM
:) I am doing a science experiement on it!
Posted by rachel  on  Wed Feb 28, 2007  at  08:37 AM
Umm the correct thing is cocunate oil.
Posted by abdulla  on  Thu Mar 01, 2007  at  04:34 PM
Hey... I am planning to do this for a science fair project... Can you please help me out and provide some information (more) on why mentos cause soda to explode?.... and if there are certain types that do it... PLEASE!!! thanks.... i appreciate it a lot...
Posted by Cassy Hutchings  on  Mon Mar 05, 2007  at  10:21 PM
well cassy. the first answer i found was from the gum arabic and the carbon dioxide gas. im doing it for a science fair project as well. but as i came upon this site other people were saying its different things. i feel i should go with what scientists say not other people on the internet so im going with gum arabic and carbon dioxide gas. i found a really good website that has info for it. i forget the name right now but its pretty hard to follow so i gt my smart friend to translate. ill be more than willing to help u with it too. just ask on this site
Posted by Lacey  on  Mon Mar 05, 2007  at  11:06 PM
dunno if its been posted or not cause i didnt feel like reading all the posts, but tapping a can "defizzes" it because of a thing called efervesance, look it up
Posted by chad  on  Wed Mar 07, 2007  at  05:40 PM
haha, i put mentos in my mouth and drank soda, it fizzled, but nothing really major happened. It sounded really cool though!
Posted by Abbi  on  Wed Mar 14, 2007  at  06:08 PM
void(0);
LOLOMGOSH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i like, love this experiment!!!!!!!! its the best !! its awesome!!!! its coooooooooooooooooooo kool!!!!! i just have 2 do it. lolvoid(0);
red face
Posted by 5hdh  on  Fri Mar 16, 2007  at  09:40 AM
I think that the carbon dioxide gasses cling to the little pits that are all over the mentos macking it bubble
Posted by valeri  on  Fri Apr 13, 2007  at  08:14 AM
rasberry tongue laugh Nice!
Posted by Zubin  on  Tue Apr 17, 2007  at  02:59 PM
MY CLASS IS DOING A SCIENCE
PROJECT ON THE MENTOS AND THE DIET COKE
AND I KNOW U HAD SOME EXPERIENCE WITH THAT
AND I WAS WONDERING IF U CAN GIVE ME A REALLY
KOOL WEDSIGHT ABOUT THOES OR JUST TELL ME WAT
HAPPEND AND HOW DID U DO IT!
Posted by ASHLEY  on  Fri Apr 27, 2007  at  04:26 PM
it was fun
ghjzfgtjfthjfgjhfj
Posted by yo mammaxgfj  on  Wed May 16, 2007  at  01:19 PM
ok so i have to do an end of the year project for my advanced chemistry class, i wanted to do pop rocks and soda becuz i heard it would produce the same reaction as mentos and soda... anyone know if this is tru or not? if so could you please respond asap... oh and also which sodas work the best would be helpful too :D
Posted by Court  on  Thu May 24, 2007  at  02:40 PM
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