Brain Teasers
A Drink Gone Wrong
Science
Science brain teasers require understanding of the physical or biological world and the laws that govern it.Science
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?
Why did he do this?
Hint
Think about the category of this teaser, and remember that Coke is made up of water, carbon dioxide, preservatives, and sugar.Answer
When he loses the Mentos into the soda, the gelatin and gum arabic from the dissolving candy breaks the surface tension. This disrupts the water mesh, so that it takes less work to expand and form new bubbles.The reaction is physical, not chemical.
Basically, the ingredients in the mentos and soda are similar to the reaction of baking soda and vinegar, and causes an eruption.
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Comments
Not sure here. Firstly, it involves Diet C*k*, then ordinary C*k*.
Pressed send too early! Is there sugar in Diet C*k*? I thought there wouldn't be any!
i have accually done that!! it made a mess! good job
I know it would work I saw an internet clip w/ diet coke and mentos and it created same reaction very cool to watch.
I knew that!
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.
I am going to try that!
I saw a mythbuster special on it!
I saw a mythbuster special on it!
ZAT ANZER WAZ SOO EASI MAN
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
pretty cool
science rocks
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.
hehehhehee... he screamed.
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.
who hasn't heard of coke and mentos now?
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.
Vinegar: CH3COOH
Baking soda: NaHCO3
CH3COOH + NaHCO3 ---> CH3COONa + H2CO3
H2CO3 ---> H2O + CO2
Water and carbon dioxide bubbles.
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.
Awesome!!!
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!
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.
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.
I thought he choked.
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