I just had a bit of accidental chemistry. I'm in a study where I'm not allowed to drink any caloric beverages. So, I'm allowed water, black coffee, zero calorie soda, etc. They also give me this stuff called Crystal Light. I decided to try to make my Sprite Zero taste better by adding some of the Crystal Light to it. That was a bad idea-instant volcano. It reminded me of the Mentos-Diet Coke reaction, so maybe it's the same thing. I don't know the active ingredients in that reaction, though.

 

 

Crystal Light: citric acid, potassium citrate, maltodextrin, aspertame, magnesium oxide, <2% flavoring, acesulfame potassium, soy lecithin, red 40

 

Sprite Zero: carbonated water, citric acid, potassium citrate, natural flavors, potassium benzoate, aspertame, acesulfame potassium

 

Citric acid, potassium citrate, aspertame, and acesulfame potassium are common to both, so I don't think they were involved. And "natural flavor" is vague to the point of uselessness.

 

 

Any ideas on what happened?

I don't think it's a chemical reaction, I know the mentos is a reaction that has more to do with suddenly increasing the surface area for bubbles to form resulting in a chain reaction of released CO2. (I watched it on myth busters) This could be a similar thing. I would recommend trying a powder of similar consistency but made of other or inert materials and seeing if you get a similar reaction. ...

Interestingly, I watched the video below just this morning. Basically, the crystal light flavor flakes create nucleation sites and the aspertame and other bits lower the surface tension chemically.