Diet Coke & Mentos_GabrielaM

download Diet Coke & Mentos_GabrielaM

of 2

Transcript of Diet Coke & Mentos_GabrielaM

  • 8/14/2019 Diet Coke & Mentos_GabrielaM

    1/2

    1

    Gabriela Merghes student in theIX-th D grade at Mihai Eminescu

    National High School

    eTwinning experiments

    Tel: 0234-769 075

    Experiment

    D IET COKE AND MENTOSERUPTION

    Magic but real experiments

    Breaking the RecordThe next record was set on April 23, 2008,

    by students in the Belgian city of Leuven;

    they simultaneously launched 1,360

    Mentos geysers. Then, on May 14, 2008,

    students at Louisville Male High School in

    Louisville, Kentucky, broke that record by

    setting off 1,800 simultaneous geysers.

    The current Guinness World Record

    1,911 simultaneous geysers was set on

    June 19, 2008, by students of The School of

    Business Administration Turiba in Latvia.

    This record was registered by the official

    representative of the Guinness World Re-

    cord book.

    Phone:0261-759035

    Fax: 0261759035

    E-mail: [email protected]

  • 8/14/2019 Diet Coke & Mentos_GabrielaM

    2/2

    2

    Popularity

    As noted, the eruption has become an inter-

    net phenomenon. One reason for the

    popularity of this demonstration is its com-

    parative safety. Because the interaction

    releases only the carbon dioxide already

    present in the liquid, the cola bottle should

    not usually rupture if capped, although it is

    possible to break the bottle with physical

    force.This di f fers from simi lar

    demonstrations with dry ice wich have the

    potential to generate much larger pressures

    depending on the amount used. The

    Mythbusters also noted when testing the

    experiment, that unlike other materials like

    dry ice which are expensive and rare, Diet

    Coke and Mentos can be acquired at

    almost any local convenience store.

    Diet Coke and Mentos Eruption (also

    known as a Mentos eruption or a coke

    geyser) is a reaction of Diet Coke and mint

    Mentos candies. The eruption is caused by

    opening a bottle of Diet Coke (typically a

    two liter bottle) and dropping a Mentos into

    the bottle. The reaction causes the Diet

    Coke to foam at a rapid rate and spew into

    the air. Mint is used instead of fruit-flavor

    Mentos because fruit flavored Mentos have

    a smooth coating which slows the reaction.

    Because of the nature of this physical

    reaction and the easy availability of the

    ingredients, the eruption is a popular

    subject for Internet videos, and has also

    appeared in non-Internet sources. A

    variation of this experience consists on

    making the bottle rocket up by closing the

    cap shortly after Mentos is inserted and,

    then, slam the bottle into the ground cap

    first. The explosion will generate a reaction

    like the engines of a rocket.

    Diet Coke & MentosExplanation

    In a 2006 episode of MythBusters, a popular

    television program on the Discovery Chan-

    nel, they concluded that the caffeine,

    potassium benzoate, aspartame, and CO2

    gas contained in the Diet Coke and the

    gelatin and gum arabic ingredients of theMentos all contribute to the jet effect.

    A paper by Tonya Coffey, a physicist at

    Appalachian State University in Boone, North

    Carolina goes into detail on the reasons and

    p h y s i c s b e h i n d t h e r e a c t i o n .

    Steve Spangler, who first put the Mentos

    Geyser in the public eye, has several videos

    and detailed experiments about it on his

    website. The Geyser Tube is a device

    invented for use in creating the reaction.

    Experiment

    Gabriela Merghes , student in the IX-th D Grade at Mihai

    Eminescu National Highschool in Satu Mare

    Phone:0261-759035

    Fax: 0261759035

    E-mail: [email protected]