Diet Coke and Mentos

A do-it-yourself Bellagio kit

Awhile back, staff member hankword sent me a link to this video where some dood stuffed a bunch of mentos mints into a 2 liter of diet coke. Less than a second later, there was a geyser level reaction that to be honest, looked pretty faked. To me, there was just no way that two somewhat common household items could cause such a violent reaction. After all, isn't that why we have the FDA or whatever? But after doing some google based research, the whole thing seemed to gain some validity as there were several accounts of people doing similar stunts with the same result.

Intrigued, and somewhat annoyed as to how something like this could have slid in under my radar, I made a lunch time field trip to the Tiger Market on Cleveland and purchased a half dozen 2 liters and every last mentos box they had on the shelf.

Excited about the prospects of re-creating a Bellagio like geyser with the help of a few Streets kids, it suddenly hit me. How am I going to get all these mentos into the 2 liter? The guy in the video used a test tube, and after thumbing thru the phone book, I discovered that unless you are in the market for several hundred of these things at a time... they are kind of hard to find.

So, after a few brain storms and napkin sketches, I decided to hit the hardware store and invest $1.49 into a 10 ft section of 3/4 inch pvc pipe. Then, with a little help from one of the ginsu knives I inherited from my Mimaw, I proceeded to saw the pipe into foot long sections. For a trigger I drilled a nail sized hole about 1/4 of an inch from the bottom of the pvc pipe. Then, after assigning a name to the device and applying a brief paint job, I declared that the finest trigger activated mentos delivery system in the world had been created.

With it, I could chute up to 22 mentos into a standard 2 liter in about a second; a system that was far superior to the much smaller capacity test tube system in the video. Therefore, in my humble opinion, it was what us scientists like to call "lab perfect".

the pre-flight test

Now due to the expense, and mess, of conducting this particular experiment, I decided to conduct a few dry-runs before totally committing to the process.

And after several attempts, most of which involved getting the timer on the camera to sync up perfectly with the mentos falling into the test bottle, the totally ebay-able "fresh maker" mentos-to-2 liter delivery system was ready for action.

But before we go there, lets do a little mentos flashback. Remember this tune? That's right... somewhere in the midst of all my research I stumbled not only onto the mentos jingle, but also the words. Just shut your eyes and enjoy.

Doo doo doo doo, doo-doo, do-Wah!

It doesn't matter what comes, fresh goes better in life, with Mentos, fresh and full of life.

Nothing gets to you, staying fresh staying cool, with Mentos, fresh and full of life.

Fresh goes better, Mentos freshness, fresh goes better with Mentos, fresh and full of life!

here comes the science

Seeing how the section of rv.com we are currently in is called Testing 1,2,3, it is semi-important that we do some homework here before we head straight for the big-ba-da-boom.

Not really having any "scientific" equipment, I raided the Streets mail room to see what I could come up with that might add some validity to any of our findings. An out of date postal rate scale seemed to be just the thing.

The idea was that I could weigh everything beforehand just to see how much the reaction would "cost" the participants. And while I wasn't entirely sure what I would do with these "findings", it seemed the prudent thing to do at the time. So here you go.

pre-science measurements

	22 mentos weigh exactly 3 ounces
	A warm 2 liter of diet coke weighs 4.5 pounds
	It was 64 degrees outside
	The humidity was at 54 percent

With that, the stage was now set. Since it was getting dark I broke out my twin 1000w light tree that staff member wmartin gave me a few years back to help with the video quality. The black marks on the collum are foot markings beginning with 2 feet and reaching up to 7 feet. Once it was all setup, it was really scientific looking. I felt the need for some goggles and a lab coat... but like I said, it was getting dark. So lets get it on.

With the air so thick with anticipation that you could barely have cut it with a set of those ginsu knives I was telling you about earlier, it was time to batten down the tripod and roll-tape.

Take 1... a miserable failure

After all that, I have to tell you that I was pretty let down. While clearly there was "something" scientific going on, but it was not nearly the reaction I had hoped for. Then it hit me, perhaps the temperature of the diet coke has something to do with it. The one in "Take 1" was fresh out of the refrigerator, and according to my research, "a warm 2 liter" was specifically called for. So it was off to the Cleveland Tiger Market once more in hopes of creating a much more dramatic result the second time around.

Take 2... now that's what I'm talking about!

Wow, clearly the temperature of the diet coke makes a huge difference in the quality of the eruption. Not only did the diet coke spew off the chart and reach a height of over 12 feet, I had a huge mess on my hands. If it had not been for the gutters on the side of the garage, there is no telling how high this stuff could have spewed. Finally, total success.

while it was now dark outside, the lights sort of gave the "lab" a sort of Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind feel.

post-science measurements

	Amazingly, the 22 mentos still weigh exactly
	3 ounces. Not sure what I was expecting here, but it sure wasn't for the things to weigh the same. I dunno, it would have been sort of cool if they each weighed 21 grams less or something.

	The warm 2 liter of diet coke now weighs
	1.75 lbs, and was remarkably flat. This inspired me to taste one of the mentos... which were now hard as rocks. At least something changed in them.

	It was still 64 degrees outside. This made me
	feel that, in spite of the huge mess created, there were absolutely no ecological repercussions as a result of this experiment.

the after-party

With all the dangerous scientific exploration now out of the way, I thought it would be cool to load up on mentos and diet coke and hold a "science class" in the park across the street for the Streets' kids. Below is a pictorial and video explanation of how all that went down. I think you will be amused.

	After a detailed scientific explanation as to what
	was going on, I unleash the power of the mentos into the first 2 liter. Video (and wind noise) courtesy of wmartin productions.

	Ater struggling a bit with the intricacies of
	of the "fresh maker", Woo and Taurian take their turn using the device. Video

	Overwhelmed by the amount of science,
	on display, a member of the audience decided to take a dip. Video

rvining

- 3/16/2006 10:27:53 AM
it should be noted that the mint flavors do much better than the fruity flavors. furthermore, the type of coke does not matter (coke, diet coke, etc), it is just that the diet varieties are easier to clean up because they are not as sticky.

loh1974

- 3/16/2006 1:59:02 PM
you are a hoot! I think the guys on Myth Busters have some competition on their hands!

rvining

- 3/20/2006 2:56:24 PM
i am now accepting designs for the 'mega mentos cannon' if anybody would like to turn one in. the idea is that we build a contraption that is designed to shoot diet coke as high as possible. your budget is 50 bucks and i'll give 25 RVPR points to the best designer. no limit on number of mentos and gallons of diet coke used, but that is to be part of the budget.

rvining

- 3/29/2006 1:59:07 PM
dunno, this didn't get near the response i thought it would. however, it is almost spring and my mind seems to be more creative in spring.

kgarrett

- 6/14/2006 8:31:12 AM
Mega mentos cannon was the featured story on yahoo this morning... http://picks.yahoo.com/picks/i/20060607.html

rvining

- 6/14/2006 8:14:39 PM
ohhh, save me a copy. wlm found a video I need to post where this dood made a fountain that would make the bellagio blush.

loh1974

- 6/14/2006 11:58:05 PM
tell me again..... what is it exactly that you do at Streets? :) You know, Streets, your job...

rvining

- 6/17/2006 5:11:24 PM
duhhh, i'm like the science teacher and stuff.

loh1974

- 6/18/2006 7:46:28 PM
yeah.. your like the STREETS Myth Busters huh!

kgarrett

- 8/9/2006 2:17:53 PM
This trick has hit the big time now. Occording to the CA's tv section, the real mythbusters will work it out tonight on their show!

rvining

- 8/9/2006 3:52:37 PM
well i tivo'd the letterman re-run last week of those 2 doods who launched 150 at a time. an impressive display that really wasn't all that technical. i so missed the boat on that one. like us, they weren't the first to come up with this, but they were the first to take it big.

loh1974

- 9/5/2006 10:07:32 PM
I guess I wonder, where would all the air go if you ate a pack of Mentos and drank a can of coke? Anyone tried that yet? Is there a warning ont he Mentos that says, 'do not drink carbonation with these?'

loh1974

- 9/6/2006 2:51:15 PM
since you losers wouldnt try it or comment on it, I did it myself... Let me just say, the air does escape...TUM, TUM, TUM, TUM TUMS!!!

rvining

- 9/6/2006 10:41:55 PM
uhhh, wow? i think?

wmartin

- 9/7/2006 4:16:19 PM
The mention of girls and gas just races my engine.

loh1974

- 9/7/2006 4:37:06 PM
Keepin it real.......I dont live in pins and needles... what happens, happens... But I will say, I wouldnt try it...

Diet Coke and Mentos

A do-it-yourself Bellagio kit

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