In the interest of advancing the pursuit of scientific truth I will report on the results from the Mentos and Diet Coke investigation that I described in the last post. As I said our control conditions were 24 oz. (700 milliliters) of Diet Coke with 5 mint Mentos introduced through a “geyser tube.” The average standard conditions were 7.8 feet with 234 mL of liquid left in the bottle. Using regular Coke or Sprite instead of Diet Coke reduced to geyser height to 5.3 and 5.1 feet respectively. Diet Coke that had been left open for 24 to 48 hours a room temperature gave an average height of 5.1 feet, but their was a large variation in the results suggesting that the Diet Coke should have been more rigorously degassed. Substituting fruity Mentos or cinnamon Mentos for mint Mentos gave geysers of 6.6 and 8.4 feet respectively. Crushing the Mentos decreased the fountain significantly – 2.0 feet. However, scraping or halving the Mentos gave heights of 5.1 and 7.5 feet respectively. Scraping Mentos gave widely varying results presumably because the scraping method was not uniform. Adding a marble on top of the Mentos gave an average of 7.6 feet. It is my personal observation that adding a weight on top of the Mentos is a good practice because it keeps the Mentos from getting stuck in a wet tube or getting forced back up into the geyser tube by the eruption. Some issues that contributed to inconsistent results were: 1) the tubes need to be screwed on securely each time, 2) the tube should be as dry as possible inside, and 3) the tube has vents in the side so that if something does obstruct the tube, the froth just shoots out the sides instead of erupting from the top.
-
« Home
Pages
-
Categories
-
Archives
- October 2013
- September 2013
- August 2013
- July 2013
- June 2013
- May 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- November 2012
- June 2012
- November 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
One Comment
TWO SIG FIGS?!? =)
Yes! Cinnamon Mentos! I knew there was something special about them!
Could there be other experimental or random errors to take into account?
Like, the method to measure the height: is a person holding the measuring stick perfectly upright? Or the mentos aren’t the exact same mass and shape, and the time in which the height was recorded?
Or wind, random people driving by honking, whether or not all the diet cokes were made and packaged the same time for everyone, and many other things that cook my brain…
Fascinating results! Now for further studies: mentos in carbonated energy drinks.