Americans have a unique ability to discover and exploit things that have absolutely no practical purpose whatsoever. There is no greater example of this than the Mentos & Diet Coke trick. The short explanation of what happens is that if you drop Mentos (regular flavor only) into a bottle of Diet Coke (other sodas work, but diet is better), it will cause an intense, pressurized reaction of fizzy awesomeness. The short explanation is really all you need to enjoy the trick, which is why its absolutely insane that this article, this article, this article and this TV show actually exist.
Don't get me wrong, I love me some MythBusters. I'm actually more disturbed by the articles. They were written by professional physicists and chemists at a collegiate level. Just saying. Someone got paid to drop candy into a bottle of pop and then figure out what happened. I might just be jealous cause no one paid me to do it.
In any case, there are hundreds, if not thousands of videos of people trying this at home. Some are amazing, others are gruesome and still others are delightful home videos show by my dad at 10 o'clock at night out in our driveway.
Check it.
Now, I had no idea what to expect as I'd seen both the amazing and the gruesome videos online. The amazing ones involve tons of bottles and differing quantities and delivery methods for the Mentos, thus creating a sort of water show, but with pop. The gruesome ones generally involve some moron dropping them in, trying to close the cap again and having the bottle pop in his hands. Despite understanding the basic concept of pressure within a closed system, I was still mildly concerned that it would be more violent than it looked on the YouTube.
It really wasn't. I had rigged a delivery system that would allow me to back away quickly as well. Largely because I watched a couple videos that involved people getting blasted in the face with Diet Coke. While I doubt it would've caused any sort of long term injury, it just didn't seem... pleasant.
My setup.
I made a tube out of paper, cut a small slit about halfway down and used another piece of paper to cover the opening. Then, when it was time to release the Mentos, I just pulled the second piece of paper out of the slit and watched the magic happen. The tub fit snug over the top of the pop bottle, but I think if I did it again I would go for a slightly different delivery method. I know this is way too much thought to put into an experiment that I just mocked people for basing their scholarship on, but bear with me. The tube was too wide, which meant some of the Mentos did not make it into the bottle. My dad theorized that it would've been about twice as high if they all made it in.
So, next time, if I were to do it again, I would have a second, inner tube that was the size of exactly one line of Mentos with just enough room for them to slide down without getting caught. I would still have the larger, outer tube because that attached so nicely to the top of the soda bottle and I would still use the slit in the paper method cause, well, that was just awesome and you all know it.
I see no reason to mess with perfection.
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