When a Mentos candy is dropped into a bottle of Diet Coke, it causes the soda to violently fizz and erupt from the bottle like a geyser. This is due to the many small pores on the Mentos surface that act as nucleation sites for carbon dioxide bubbles to form. Additionally, ingredients in both the Mentos and Diet Coke help lower the surface tension of the soda, allowing more bubbles to form rapidly. The quick sinking of the Mentos and rush of gas bubbles causes the soda to shoot from the bottle in an explosive reaction that has become widely popularized on the internet and television shows.

1. Mentos and Soda
By Jesse Robertson

2. General Reaction
● Take a Mento, and drop it into a bottle of
Diet Coke
● The mento will make the coke
violently fizz
● The result is a Diet Coke geyser
http://upload.wikimedia.
org/wikipedia/commons/7/7f/Diet_Coke_Mentos.jpg

3. Why does this happen?
Mento:
● Mentos have thousands of little
pores, or nucleation sites,
where Carbon Dioxide bubbles
love to form
● The ingredients gum arabic and
gelatin help decrease the
surface tension of the soda,
allowing more bubbles to form
(Hiskey 1)
Diet Coke:
● Potassium Benzoate and
aspartame are some of the
ingredients that mix with the
mento’s ingredients to help lower
the surface tension
● The reason most use diet Coke is
because of the aspartame, which
is much better at lowering the
surface tension than sugar
(Hiskey 1)

4. These are some of the nucleation sites on a mento using a scanning electron
microscope (Muir 1)

5. ● Mentos will sink to the bottom quickly,
which pushes the soda up faster
● When all the gas is formed, between the
gelatin and the gum arabic, along with the
nucleation sites, the soda will rush up like a
geyser
(Spangler 2)

6. Some people will use a special contraption to release
multiple mentos at once and in quick succession
(Spangler 1)
http://i1.squidoocdn.
com/resize/squidoo_images/800/d
raft_lens9182701module81247691
photo_1264452659steve-
spangler-geyser-tub

7. Popularity
This reaction has become very popular and a
lot of media has covered it, one being
MythBusters. (Muir 1)
Video:
Slo Mo Mentos and Soda

8. Works Cited
Hiskey, Daven. “Why Do Diet Coke and Mentos React?” Mental Floss 6 Feb. 2013: 1-2. Web. 13 Apr. 2014. <http://mentalfloss.
com/article/48759/why-do-diet-coke-and-mentos-react>.
Muir, Hazel. “Science of Mentos - Diet Coke Explosions Explained.” New Scientist. Reed Info, 12 June 2008. Web. 13 Apr. 2014.
<http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn14114-science-of-mentosdiet-coke-explosions-explained.html#.U0sWAF4bKBI>.
Spangler, Steve. “Mentos Diet Coke Geyser.” Steve Spangler Science. Steve Spangler Science, 2013. Web. 13 Apr. 2014. <http:
//www.stevespanglerscience.com/lab/experiments/original-mentos-diet-coke-geyser>.