hamseen Posted June 21, 2006 Share Posted June 21, 2006 Hi i was wondering why when you drop mentos or anything similar into a fizzy drink it fizzes? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
insane_alien Posted June 21, 2006 Share Posted June 21, 2006 the coating on the mentos encourages the carbon dioxide dissolved in the drink to be released at a high rate. the fact that fizzy drinks are acidic also produces more carbon dioxide when it reacts with the carbonates on the mentos. EDIT: just done some research to check the mechanism. The carbon dioxide is in a super saturated solution as soon as you release the pressure. if left alone, the excess carbon dioxide will be released slowly and it will become flat. the surface of the mentos acts as a catalyst for the reaction CO2(aq) <-> CO2(g) since this situation is not at equlibrium, this results in the production of CO2(g) since this is catalysed, it goes fast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akcapr Posted June 22, 2006 Share Posted June 22, 2006 also sugar by itself will catalyze the decomposition of carbonic acid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scicop Posted June 22, 2006 Share Posted June 22, 2006 Ask Bill Nie, the science guy. It has become one of his kitchen chemistry experiments. what are his credentials anyway? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woelen Posted June 22, 2006 Share Posted June 22, 2006 You don't need specifically mentos. Add a tablespoon full of sugar to fresh diet coke and you get the same result. You also get the same result when salt is added. Even when sand is added, you get a similar result but less strong. This is a two-sided mechanism. Part of the mechanism is just by adding much more surface, on which bubbles can form, hence the effect of sand. Another part of the effect is that dissolved sugar and dissolved salt makes the CO2 less soluble (it is already over-saturated) and drives it out of solution. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rocket Man Posted June 22, 2006 Share Posted June 22, 2006 this one might help, http://www.scienceforums.net/forums/showthread.php?t=21290 such fun can be had with super-saturated solutions of almost anything, the joys of high pressure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swansont Posted June 22, 2006 Share Posted June 22, 2006 You don't need specifically mentos. Add a tablespoon full of sugar to fresh diet coke and you get the same result. You also get the same result when salt is added. Even when sand is added' date=' you get a similar result but less strong. This is a two-sided mechanism. Part of the mechanism is just by adding much more surface, on which bubbles can form, hence the effect of sand. Another part of the effect is that dissolved sugar and dissolved salt makes the CO2 less soluble (it is already over-saturated) and drives it out of solution.[/quote'] I've noticed that they tend to use diet. Is that a more violent reaction, as compared to regular soda that already has sugar in it, so there is less CO2 in the solution? (I've also noticed diet soda spontaneously fizzing on occasion, with no apparent catalyst, and wonder if it's related) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
insane_alien Posted June 22, 2006 Share Posted June 22, 2006 yeah thats pretty much it swansont. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hamseen Posted June 22, 2006 Author Share Posted June 22, 2006 Cheers, i think ill try it with diet lemonade (less staining) and sugar, its always fun (im very childish sometimes) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hanso Posted June 22, 2006 Share Posted June 22, 2006 If you get your (protected) hands on some dry ice, put it in an empty 2 litre bottle, pop in a mentos, screw the lid on, and stand well back!! Voila .. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4373579073695023435&q=diet+coke+mentos Or if like this girl, you drink a lot of coke, then eat a mentos, it can get rather messy!! http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...6&q=pepsi+girl lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ecoli Posted June 22, 2006 Share Posted June 22, 2006 I, for one, am getting sick of all the mentos+soda videos are out there. Talk abot overusing an idea. Why can't people come up with original stuff? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hanso Posted June 22, 2006 Share Posted June 22, 2006 I' date=' for one, am getting sick of all the mentos+soda videos are out there. Talk abot overusing an idea. Why can't people come up with original stuff?[/quote'] Lol. I only found out about the whole thing last week. I tried it out on some Irn Bru (scottish drink) and it was pretty crap. Me needs dry Ice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ecoli Posted June 22, 2006 Share Posted June 22, 2006 Lol. I only found out about the whole thing last week. I tried it out on some Irn Bru (scottish drink) and it was pretty crap. Me needs dry Ice yeah, this thing has been circulating the net's video sites for months, if not longer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woelen Posted June 22, 2006 Share Posted June 22, 2006 Ecoli, I fully agree with you. This thread is going in a k3wlish direction. I've been thinking of removing this, but I'll leave this as a warning to all serious chemists: This is no fun, it is not original and does not add anything. THREAD CLOSED. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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