Braingle: 'A Drink Gone Wrong' Brain Teaser

A Drink Gone Wrong

Science brain teasers require understanding of the physical or biological world and the laws that govern it.

Puzzle ID:	#32055
Fun:	(2.67)
Difficulty:	(1.11)
Category:	Science
Submitted By:	TheSpartan1024

John was drinking a bottle of Diet Coke, and he had a Mentos mint in his mouth. He accidentally back-washed and the mint went into the bottle. He screamed, dropped the bottle, and stepped back about ten feet.
Why did he do this?

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Comments

boodler Jul 26, 2006	Not sure here. Firstly, it involves Diet Ck, then ordinary Ck.
boodler Jul 26, 2006	Pressed send too early! Is there sugar in Diet Ck? I thought there wouldn't be any!
luv2sing101 Jul 26, 2006	i have accually done that!! it made a mess! good job
puppygirl1213 Aug 01, 2006	I know it would work I saw an internet clip w/ diet coke and mentos and it created same reaction very cool to watch.
vbguy101 Aug 18, 2006	I knew that!
vbguy101 Aug 18, 2006	One I shook a bottle of Sprite so much that it sprayed all over the dining area, and the cap went flying! I was responsilble for cleaning.
Roman Sep 03, 2006	I am going to try that! I saw a mythbuster special on it!
speckles326 Oct 09, 2006	ZAT ANZER WAZ SOO EASI MAN
i_luv_2_read Oct 11, 2006	i saw that one awesome video of this....they synchronized it to a song....and i saw the mythbusters do it....and we did it at home pretty cool science rocks
integrity Oct 24, 2006	I knew that the soda was going to fizz up. But I did learn why with how the answer was explained. The only thing I do not understand is why is it only a physical reaction and not a chemical reaction? I am very curious so if some one can explain this I will appreciate it.
MalcolmReynolds Nov 24, 2006	hehehhehee... he screamed.
(user deleted) Dec 17, 2006	Thanks for sparking my curiosity about this physical reaction. Well written teaser. In regards to your answer, I was under the impression that vinegar and baking soda were an acid and base neutralization, but there is a similarity to the appearance of the Mentos/coke reaction.
MelkorDCLXVI Mar 05, 2007	who hasn't heard of coke and mentos now?
strehlow May 03, 2007	The vinegar and baking soda is an acid-base reaction, not a mechanical reaction. Vinegar: CH3COOH Baking soda: NaHCO3 CH3COOH + NaHCO3 ---> CH3COONa + H2CO3 H2CO3 ---> H2O + CO2 Water and carbon dioxide bubbles.
luckyduck May 05, 2007	My brother did that with poprocks and coke. It was hilarious! We were in this band room and the floor was made out of carpet. He put the whole pack of poprocks in and took a huge swig of coke. As you can imagine...there is now a huge stain on the floor. lol! I didn't kow all taht scientific stuff but i knew that it would explode. This was really fun.
Airos May 10, 2007	Awesome!!!
Kamazar Jun 10, 2007	I've seen several of those video. One group of people actually made rockets out of them. They took a two liter bottl of DC, put in Mentos, closed it quickly, and slammed it on the ground. Wooo, the sucker flew!
RTPunk Jul 06, 2007	The Mentos and Diet Coke works mainly because the Mentos provides nucleation sites for the CO2 gas already dissolved in the coke. When the outer coverings of the Mentos dissolve, they become very rough. The CO2 will selectively come out of solution at the imperfections on the Mentos. This causes the Diet Coke to foam up because there are many sites on the Mentos, so much gas comes out of solution all at once. Some of the ingredients in the Mentos and Coke help facilitate this; however, it is a mainly physical reaction due to surface imperfections on the Mentos.
jazzyca7 Jul 18, 2012	I thought he choked.